TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of an ionic comonomer on polymerization-induced self-assembly of diblock copolymers in non-polar media
AU - Smith, Gregory N
AU - Canning, Sarah
AU - Derry, Matthew J
AU - Mykhaylyk, Oleksandr O
AU - Youngs, Sarah Elizabeth
AU - Armes, Steven P
N1 - © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020
PY - 2020/4/14
Y1 - 2020/4/14
N2 - A series of poly(stearyl methacrylate)-poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PSMA-PBzMA) diblock copolymer nano-objects has been synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization in n-dodecane at 20 wt%. This polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) formulation was modified by the incorporation of an anionic monomer, tetradodecylammonium 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate ([NDod
4]
+[SPMA]
-) into the oil-insoluble PBzMA block. According to the literature (M. J. Derry, et al., Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 5078-5090), PSMA
18-PBzMA diblock copolymers only form spheres using this formulation for any core degree of polymerization. Unexpectedly, incorporating just a small fraction (<6 mol%) of [NDod
4]
+[SPMA]
- comonomer into the structure-directing block resulted in the formation of non-spherical diblock copolymer nano-objects, including pure worm-like and vesicular morphologies. However, only spherical micelles could be formed using a longer PSMA
34 stabilizer. These diblock copolymer nano-objects were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering, and dynamic light scattering. The bulky nature of the ionic comonomer appears to make it possible to avoid the kinetically-trapped sphere morphology. This study reveals a new approach for tuning the morphology of diblock copolymer nano-objects in non-polar media.
AB - A series of poly(stearyl methacrylate)-poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PSMA-PBzMA) diblock copolymer nano-objects has been synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization in n-dodecane at 20 wt%. This polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) formulation was modified by the incorporation of an anionic monomer, tetradodecylammonium 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate ([NDod
4]
+[SPMA]
-) into the oil-insoluble PBzMA block. According to the literature (M. J. Derry, et al., Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 5078-5090), PSMA
18-PBzMA diblock copolymers only form spheres using this formulation for any core degree of polymerization. Unexpectedly, incorporating just a small fraction (<6 mol%) of [NDod
4]
+[SPMA]
- comonomer into the structure-directing block resulted in the formation of non-spherical diblock copolymer nano-objects, including pure worm-like and vesicular morphologies. However, only spherical micelles could be formed using a longer PSMA
34 stabilizer. These diblock copolymer nano-objects were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering, and dynamic light scattering. The bulky nature of the ionic comonomer appears to make it possible to avoid the kinetically-trapped sphere morphology. This study reveals a new approach for tuning the morphology of diblock copolymer nano-objects in non-polar media.
UR - http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2020/PY/D0PY00101E
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083213139&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/D0PY00101E
DO - 10.1039/D0PY00101E
M3 - Article
SN - 1759-9954
VL - 11
SP - 2605
EP - 2614
JO - Polymer Chemistry
JF - Polymer Chemistry
IS - 14
ER -