Access to different transient assemblies through kinetic control over the self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers using a versatile micromixer

Abstract

Kinetic control over self-assembly may lead to various out-of-equilibrium supramolecular objects with distinctly different functions based on identical building blocks, but the engineering approach towards such goal is still lacking, limiting the practical applications. Here we show how a variety of transient assemblies bearing different architectures can be prepared from the same amphiphilic block copolymer (BCP) using a high-efficiency micromixer. Upon simply tuning the mixing parameters, the self-assembly kinetics of the BCP were effectively interfered, giving rise to a series of kinetically favored assemblies under continuous production. Interestingly, all these different assemblies were capable of converting into thermodynamically more stable state over time, showing typical out-of-equilibrium feature. Importantly, the kinetically favored assemblies loading with gold nanoparticles showed very different catalytic activities from the thermodynamic one, demonstrating their different functionalities. Such engineering approach towards out-of-equilibrium supramolecular assemblies may promote the implementation of flow chemistry technique in supramolecular chemistry for engineering applications.