Effect of Side Chains on the Low-Dimensional Self-Assembly of Polyphenylene-Based "rod-Coil" Graft Copolymers in Solution

Wu D, Xu F, Huang Y, Chen C, Yu C, Feng X, Yan D, Mai Y (2018)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Journal

Macromolecules American Chemical Society

Book Volume: 51

Pages Range: 161-172

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.7b02002

Abstract

We synthesized a series of "rod-coil" graft copolymers containing a laterally expanded poly-p-phenylene (PPP) backbone grafted with nonionic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) or ionic poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) side chains (denoted as PPP-g-PEO or PPP-g-PAA). The effect of the side chains on the self-assembly of the graft copolymers in THF-water mixed solvents was investigated. The PPP-g-PEO copolymers exhibited temperature-dependent self-assembly behavior, which is affected by the grafting percentage (GP) and the degree of polymerization (DP) of PEO. At 25 °C, which is higher than the crystallization temperature (Tc) of the PEO chains, PPP-g-PEO self-assembled into ultralong helices with controlled pitches when PN > 6lm/4b, where P represents GP, N denotes DP of PEO, lm expresses the length of a repeating unit in PPP, and b is Kuhn monomer length of a free jointed PEO chain; when PN < 6lm/4b, only nonhelical nanowires were observed. At 10 °C, which is below Tc of PEO, PPP-g-PEO self-assembled into polygonal multilayer nanosheets when PN ≥ 85.8lm/4b, while ultralong helices or nanowires were formed when PN < 85.8lm/4b. The PPP-g-PAA copolymer showed pH-sensitive self-assembly behavior. An increase in the electrostatic repulsion among the PAA coils in response to the pH change of the aggregate solution from 3 to 7 resulted in the formation of multiple low-dimensional nanostructures, including multilayer nanosheets, nanostrips, and helical nanostrips.

Involved external institutions

Shanghai Jiao Tong University / 上海交通大学 CN China (CN) Technische Universität Dresden DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Wu, D., Xu, F., Huang, Y., Chen, C., Yu, C., Feng, X.,... Mai, Y. (2018). Effect of Side Chains on the Low-Dimensional Self-Assembly of Polyphenylene-Based "rod-Coil" Graft Copolymers in Solution. Macromolecules, 51(1), 161-172. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.7b02002

MLA:

Wu, Dongdong, et al. "Effect of Side Chains on the Low-Dimensional Self-Assembly of Polyphenylene-Based "rod-Coil" Graft Copolymers in Solution." Macromolecules 51.1 (2018): 161-172.

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