Architecture of multi-component copolymer brushes

Abstract

In the first part of this article, the method for the preparation of diblock copolymer brushes from free radical homopolymerization of the corresponding diblock macromonomers is reviewed. These diblock copolymer brushes formed a unimolecular structure in dilute solution. Moreover, it was speculated from angular dependence measurements that diblock copolymer brushes with high aspect ratios took a geometrical anisotropic conformation, such as a cylinder. The cylinder brushes were also derived by cross-linking internal domains of the diblock copolymer brush. The second part reviews the synthesis of prototype amphiphilic copolymer brushes by alternating free radical copolymerization of binary macromonomers. To determine the phase-separated cylindrical domains of alternating copolymer brushes, large aggregates of copolymer brushes in water were constructed. The alternating copolymer brushes led to self-assemblies among hydrophobic domains during micelle formation.