The synthesis and characterization of amphiphilic disubstituted oligothiophenes

POLY 472

Yoon Soo Ko, 22051147@inhaian.net1, Kwang H. Lee, polylee@inha.ac.kr2, and Yong Ku Kwon, ykkwon@inha.ac.kr2. (1) Polymer Science and Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon, 402-751, South Korea, (2) Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Inha University, Yonghoun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon, 402-751, South Korea
We report here the synthesis and characterization of a novel series of amphiphiles consisting of a well-defined oligothiophene trimer asymm-etrically end-substituted with a hydrophobic alkyl chain and a hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol). The Ą,Ą'-disubstituted oligothi-ophenes were synthe-sized by Suzuki coupling and Stille coupling reaction. 1H NMR, GC-MS, AFM and DSC were used to confirm the molecular structures of these molecules. The self-assembling behavior of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks varied depending on the type of solvent. Various surface morphologies were also found from their thin films prepared on mica by either spin-coating or dip-coating method.