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Clarke BR, Witt CL, Ilton M, Crosby AJ, Watkins JJ, Tew GN. Bottlebrush Networks: A Primer for Advanced Architectures. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202318220. [PMID: 38588310 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202318220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Bottlebrush networks (BBNs) are an exciting new class of materials with interesting physical properties derived from their unique architecture. While great strides have been made in our fundamental understanding of bottlebrush polymers and networks, an interdisciplinary approach is necessary for the field to accelerate advancements. This review aims to act as a primer to BBN chemistry and physics for both new and current members of the community. In addition to providing an overview of contemporary BBN synthetic methods, we developed a workflow and desktop application (LengthScale), enabling bottlebrush physics to be more approachable. We conclude by addressing several topical issues and asking a series of pointed questions to stimulate conversation within the community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon R Clarke
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, United States
| | - Connor L Witt
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, United States
| | - Mark Ilton
- Department of Physics, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711, United States
| | - Alfred J Crosby
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, United States
| | - James J Watkins
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, United States
| | - Gregory N Tew
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, United States
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2
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Patel BB, Pan T, Chang Y, Walsh DJ, Kwok JJ, Park KS, Patel K, Guironnet D, Sing CE, Diao Y. Concentration-Driven Self-Assembly of PS- b-PLA Bottlebrush Diblock Copolymers in Solution. ACS POLYMERS AU 2022; 2:232-244. [PMID: 35971423 PMCID: PMC9372993 DOI: 10.1021/acspolymersau.1c00057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
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Bottlebrush polymers
are a class of semiflexible, hierarchical
macromolecules with unique potential for shape-, architecture-, and
composition-based structure–property design. It is now well-established
that in dilute to semidilute solution, bottlebrush homopolymers adopt
a wormlike conformation, which decreases in extension (persistence
length) as the concentration and molecular overlap increase. By comparison,
the solution phase self-assembly of bottlebrush diblock copolymers
(BBCP) in a good solvent remains poorly understood, despite critical
relevance for solution processing of ordered phases and photonic crystals.
In this work, we combine small-angle X-ray scattering, coarse-grained
simulation, and polymer synthesis to map the equilibrium phase behavior
and conformation of a set of large, nearly symmetric PS-b-PLA bottlebrush diblock copolymers in toluene. Three BBCP are synthesized,
with side chains of number-averaged molecular weights of 4500 (PS)
and 4200 g/mol (PLA) and total backbone degrees of polymerization
of 100, 255, and 400 repeat units. The grafting density is one side
chain per backbone repeat unit. With increasing concentration in solution,
all three polymers progress through a similar structural transition:
from dispersed, wormlike chains with concentration-dependent (decreasing)
extension, through the onset of disordered PS/PLA compositional fluctuations,
to the formation of a long-range ordered lamellar phase. With increasing
concentration in the microphase-separated regimes, the domain spacing
increases as individual chains partially re-extend due to block immiscibility.
Increases in the backbone degree of polymerization lead to changes
in the scattering profiles which are consistent with the increased
segregation strength. Coarse-grained simulations using an implicit
side-chain model are performed, and concentration-dependent self-assembly
behavior is qualitatively matched to experiments. Finally, using the
polymer with the largest backbone length, we demonstrate that lamellar
phases develop a well-defined photonic band gap in solution, which
can be tuned across the visible spectrum by varying polymer concentration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bijal B. Patel
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Tianyuan Pan
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 1304 W. Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Yilong Chang
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 W. Green St., MC 244, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Dylan J. Walsh
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Justin J. Kwok
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 1304 W. Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Kyung Sun Park
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Kush Patel
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Damien Guironnet
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Charles E. Sing
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Ying Diao
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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Kang JJ, Sachse C, Ko CH, Schroer MA, Vela SD, Molodenskiy D, Kohlbrecher J, Bushuev NV, Gumerov RA, Potemkin II, Jordan R, Papadakis CM. Rigid-to-Flexible Transition in a Molecular Brush in a Good Solvent at a Semidilute Concentration. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2022; 38:5226-5236. [PMID: 35166545 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c02589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The structures of a molecular brush in a good solvent are investigated using synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering in a wide range of concentrations. The brush under study, PiPOx239-g-PnPrOx14, features a relatively long poly(2-isopropenyl-2-oxazoline) (PiPOx) backbone and short poly(2-n-propyl-2-oxazoline) (PnPrOx) side chains. As a solvent, ethanol is used. By model fitting, the overall size and the persistence length as well as the interaction length and interaction strength are determined. At this, the interplay between form and structure factor is taken into account. The conformation of the molecular brush is traced upon increasing the solution concentration, and a rigid-to-flexible transition is found near the overlap concentration. Finally, the results of computer simulations of the molecular brush solutions confirm the experimental results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia-Jhen Kang
- Fachgebiet Physik weicher Materie, Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Clemens Sachse
- Professur für Makromolekulare Chemie, Fakultät Chemie und Lebensmittelchemie, Technische Universität Dresden, Mommsenstraße 4, 01069 Dresden, Germany
| | - Chia-Hsin Ko
- Fachgebiet Physik weicher Materie, Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Martin A Schroer
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Outstation, c/o Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestr. 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Stefano Da Vela
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Outstation, c/o Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestr. 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Dmitry Molodenskiy
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Outstation, c/o Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestr. 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Joachim Kohlbrecher
- Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging, Paul Scherrer Institut, Forschungsstr. 111, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
| | - Nikita V Bushuev
- Physics Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russian Federation
| | - Rustam A Gumerov
- Physics Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russian Federation
| | - Igor I Potemkin
- Physics Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russian Federation
- National Research South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk 454080, Russian Federation
| | - Rainer Jordan
- Professur für Makromolekulare Chemie, Fakultät Chemie und Lebensmittelchemie, Technische Universität Dresden, Mommsenstraße 4, 01069 Dresden, Germany
| | - Christine M Papadakis
- Fachgebiet Physik weicher Materie, Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
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4
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Zhang W, Vargas-Lara F, Orski SV, Beers KL, Douglas JF. Modeling short-chain branched polyethylenes in dilute solution under variable solvent quality conditions: Basic configurational properties. POLYMER 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2021.123429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
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Sunday DF, Chremos A, Martin TB, Chang AB, Burns AB, Grubbs RH. The Concentration Dependence of the Size and Symmetry of a Bottlebrush Polymer in a Good Solvent. Macromolecules 2020; 53:7132-7140. [PMID: 34121772 PMCID: PMC8194097 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Bottlebrush polymers consist of a linear backbone with densely grafted side chains which impact the rigidity of the molecule. The persistence length of the bottlebrush backbone in solution is influenced by both the intrinsic structure of the polymer and by the local environment, such as the solvent quality and concentration. Increasing the concentration reduces the overall size of the molecule due to the reduction in backbone stiffness. In this study we map out the size of a bottlebrush polymer as a function of concentration for a single backbone length. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements are conducted on a polynorbornene-based bottlebrush with polystyrene side chains in a good solvent. The data are fit using a model which provides both the long and short axis radius of gyration (R g,2 and R g,1, respectively), providing a measure for how the conformation changes as a function of concentration. At low concentrations a highly anisotropic structure is observed (R g,2/R g,1 ≈ 4), becoming more isotropic at higher concentrations (R g,2/R g,1 ≈ 1.5). The concentration scaling for both R g,2 and the overall R g are evaluated and compared with predictions in the literature. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were also conducted to probe the impact of concentration on bottlebrush conformation showing qualitative agreement with the experimental results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel F. Sunday
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Alexandros Chremos
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Tyler B. Martin
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Alice B. Chang
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
| | - Adam B. Burns
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Robert H. Grubbs
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
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