Effect of Architecture on Micelle Formation and Liquid-Crystalline Ordering in Solutions of Block Copolymers Comprising Flexible and Rigid Blocks: Rod-Coil vs Y-Shaped vs Comblike Copolymers.

Micelle formation of amphiphilic block copolymers of various architectures comprising both flexible and rodlike blocks were studied in a selective solvent via dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. Peculiarities of self-assembly of Y-shaped (insoluble rigid block and two flexible soluble arms) and comblike (soluble flexible backbone with insoluble rigid side chains) copolymers are compared with those of equivalent rod-coil diblock copolymers. We have shown that aggregation of the rigid blocks into the dense core of the micelles is accompanied by their nematic ordering. However, the orientation order parameter and aggregation number of the micelles are strongly dependent on macromolecular architecture. Relatively small micelles of pretty high nematic order parameter, S ≈ 0.5-0.8, are the features of the Y-shaped and rod-coil copolymer micelles. They are characterized by different responses to the solvent quality worsening. The aggregation number of the rod-coil diblock copolymer micelles increases and that of the Y-shaped copolymer micelles decreases at the solvent quality worsening. However, the order parameter grows in both cases, achieving a maximum value for the Y-shaped copolymer micelles. Herewith, the core elongates. On the contrary, comblike copolymers self-assemble into bigger spherical micelles whose core possesses a lower nematic order of the rods, S ≈ 0.3-0.4. The aggregation number is shown to depend on the length of the combs (on the number of repeating elements in the architecture). Possible physical reasons for such behavior of the systems are discussed.