POLY 16 |
| This presentation will highlight advances that have been made and challenges that remain toward the preparation and study of well-defined and complex nanoscale objects, originating from brush block copolymers and linear block copolymers, each experiencing supramolecular intra- and intermolecular interactions. We have been studying the intermolecular assembly of amphiphilic di- and triblock copolymers for several years now, and have identified several morphologies (cylinders, toroids, discs, and others) that extend beyond simple spherical core-shell nanomaterials. In each case, the accessible morphologies are dependent upon the polymer composition, structure and sequence, together with a fine balance of the experimental conditions employed during the assembly processes. For the cylindrical morphologies, it has been observed that the diameters are uniform and controllable, but the lengths are more heterogeneous and cannot be specified. Therefore, we began investigations of core-shell brush block copolymers, which have the possibility for exact control over the dimensions by specification of the compositions, structures and lengths of the backbone polymer and the grafted brush chains. The brush block copolymers allow for independent control over the diameter and length, and therefore, the aspect ratio, and also allow for the incorporation of differential chemistries concentrically or along the length of the resulting cylindrical macromolecular framework. Moreover, such defined chemical structures can be designed to undergo intramolecular assembly, based upon the brush block copolymer conformation, as well as intermolecular, multi-molecular assembly. This presentation will discuss the strategies being pursued toward the preparation and study of complex nanostructured materials containing multiple internal compartments, and based upon combinations of supramolecular interactions and covalent bonds—each imposed in an iterative fashion to achieve highly complex and hierarchically-assembled materials. |
|
Multicompartment Micelles: Higher Order Self-assembly of Block Copolymers
8:30 AM-12:00 PM, Sunday, 10 September 2006 San Francisco Marriott -- Salon B2, Oral
Division of Polymer Chemistry |