Tu Yingfeng, Ji Zhichao, Yang Xiaoming, Wan Xinhua, Zhou Qi-Feng
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
Macromol Rapid Commun. 2014 Sep 10. doi: 10.1002/marc.201400381.
The self-assembled nanostructures of a high-molecular-weight rod-coil block copolymer, poly(styrene-block-(2,5-bis[4-methoxyphenyl]oxycarbonyl)styrene) (PS-b-PMPCS), in p-xylene are studied. The cylindrical micelles, long segmental cylindrical micelle associates, spherical micelles, and spherical micelle associates are observed with increased copolymer concentration. The high molecular weight of PS leads to the entanglement between PS chains from different micelles, which is the force for supramolecular interactions. Short cylindrical micelles are connected end-to-end via this supramolecular chemistry to form long segmental cylindrical micelle associates, analogue to the condensation polymerization process, with direction and saturation. On the other hand, spherical micelles assemble via supramolecular chemistry to form spherical micelle associates, yet without any direction due to their isotropic properties.
