Zhang C, Bates MW, Geng Z, Levi AE, Vigil D, Barbon SM, Loman T, Delaney KT, Fredrickson GH, Bates CM, Whittaker AK, Hawker CJ. Rapid Generation of Block Copolymer Libraries Using Automated Chromatographic Separation.
J Am Chem Soc 2020;
142:9843-9849. [PMID:
32421319 DOI:
10.1021/jacs.0c04028]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
A versatile and scalable strategy is reported for the rapid generation of block copolymer libraries spanning a wide range of compositions starting from a single parent copolymer. This strategy employs automated and operationally simple chromatographic separation that is demonstrated to be applicable to a variety of block copolymer chemistries on multigram scales with excellent mass recovery. The corresponding phase diagrams exhibit increased compositional resolution compared to those traditionally constructed via multiple, individual block copolymer syntheses. Increased uniformity and lower dispersity of the chromatographic libraries lead to differences in the location of order-order transitions and observable morphologies, highlighting the influence of dispersity on the self-assembly of block copolymers. Significantly, this separation technique greatly simplifies the exploration of block copolymer phase space across a range of compositions, monomer pairs, and molecular weights (up to 50000 amu), producing materials with increased control and homogeneity when compared to conventional strategies.
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