Hofman A, Terzic I, Stuart MCA, ten Brinke G, Loos K. Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Double-Comb Triblock Terpolymers.
ACS Macro Lett 2018;
7:1168-1173. [PMID:
30356968 PMCID:
PMC6195812 DOI:
10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00570]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2018] [Accepted: 09/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Involving supramolecular chemistry in self-assembling block copolymer systems enables design of macromolecular architectures that are challenging to obtain through conventional all-covalent routes. In this work we present supramolecular double-comb triblock terpolymers in which both outer blocks are able to interact with a surfactant via hydrogen bonding and thereby form a comb-shaped architecture upon complexation. While the neat triblock terpolymer only formed a triple lamellar morphology, multiple hierarchical structures were observed in these supramolecular comb-coil-comb triblock terpolymers by simply adjusting the surfactant concentration. Structures included spheres on tetragonally packed cylinders-in-lamellae and spheres on double parallel lamellae-in-lamellae, as evidenced by electron microscopy and X-ray scattering. Incorporation of a middle coil block thus allowed an even higher macromolecular complexity than the previously reported double-comb diblock copolymers.
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