Abstract
A well-defined amphiphilic centipede-like copolymer of styrene and methacrylic acid (PS-PS-PMAA) was synthesized by the combination of living anionic polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The synthetic approach involves the first coupling reaction of polystyrene (PS) backbone bearing 1,1-diphenylethene (DPE) pendant groups with living polystyryllithium (PSLi), and sequential anionic polymerization of t-butyl methacrylate (tBMA) initiated by resulting 1,1-diphenylmethyl anion, and final hydrolysis of obtained PS-PS-PtBMA. The centipede-like copolymer PS-PS-PMAA was characterized by 1H NMR, IR, GPC, and SLS measurements. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of PS-PS-PMAA in water was determined by fluorescence probe technique. The self-assembly behavior of PS-PS-PMAA in water-THF mixture was observed by TEM. The results showed that the micellar morphology can be varied, such as vesicle, sphere, and agglomerate, depending on the THF content. These phenomena are worthy of further research in polymer physics field.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Iatrou H, Mays JW, Hadjichristidis N. Regular comb polystyrenes and graft polyisoprene/polystyrene copolymers with double branches (“centipedes”). Quality of (1,3-phenylene) bis(3-methyl-1-phenylpentylidene) dilithium initiator in the presence of polar additives. Macromolecules, 1998, 31: 6697–6701
Ryu S, Hirao A. Synthesis of branched polymers by means of anionic polymerization. 11. Anionic synthesis of densely branched polystyrenes carrying double branches in each repeating unit. Macromol Symp, 2003, 192: 31–42
Ryu SW, Asada H, Hirao A. Synthesis of novel well-defined substituted polystyrenes functionalized with two and four benzyl bromide moieties in each monomer unit and their application to densely branched polymer synthesis. Macromolecules, 2002, 35: 7191–7199
Ryu SW, Asada, H, Watanabe T, Hirao A. Synthesis of well-defined high-density branched polymers carrying two branch chains in each repeating unit by coupling reaction of benzyl bromide-functionalized polystyrenes with polymer anions comprised of two polymer segments. Macromolecules, 2004, 37: 6291–6298
Hirao A, Kawano H, Ryu SW. Synthesis of branched polymers by means of living anionic polymerization-part 6. Synthesis of well-defined comb-like branched polystyrenes and graft copolymers with highly branched architecture. Polym Adv Technol, 2002, 13: 275–284
Gu LN, Shen Z, Zhang S, Lu GL, Zhang XH, Huang XY. Novel amphiphilic centipede-like copolymer bearing polyacrylate backbone and poly(ethylene glycol) and polystyrene side chains. Macromolecules, 2007, 40: 4486–4493
Shi GY, Zou P, Pan CY. Synthesis and characterization of asymmetric centipede-like copolymers with two side chains at each repeating unit via ATRP and ring-opening polymerization. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2008, 46: 5580–5591
Li CH, Ge ZS, Fang J, Liu SY. Synthesis and self-assembly of coil rod double hydrophilic diblock copolymer with dually responsive asymmetric centipede-shaped polymer brush as the rod segment. Macromolecules, 2009, 42: 2916–2924
Li AX, Lu ZJ, Zhou QF, Qiu F, Yang YL. Synthesis of a novel centipede-like copolymer of styrene, isoprene, and methyl methacrylate. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2006, 44: 3942–3946
Li AX, Lu ZJ. Synthesis of a novel centipede-like copolymer of styrene and methyl methacrylate. Sci China Ser B-Chem, 2007, 50: 253–257
Fayt R, Forte R, Jacobs C, Jérome R, Ouhadi T, Teyssié Ph, Varshney SK. New initiator system for the “living” anionic polymerization of tert-alkyl acrylates. Macromolecules, 1987, 20: 1442–1444
Wang J S, Jérome R, Warin R, Teyssié Ph. Anionic polymerization of (meth)acrylic monomers. 12. Effect of lithium chloride on the stereochemistry of the anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate in THF and in a 9/1 Toluene/THF mixture. Macromolecules, 1993, 26: 5984–5990
Wilhelm M, Zhao C, Wang Y, Xu R, Winnik M, Mura J, Riess G, Croucher M. Poly(styrene-ethylene oxide) block copolymer micelle formation in water: A fluorescence probe study. Macromolecules, 1991, 24: 1033–1040
Astafieva I, Zhong X, Eisenberg A. Critical micellization phenomena in block polyelectrolyte solutions. Macromolecules, 1993, 26: 7339–7352
Zhang LF, Eisenberg A. Formation of crew-cut aggregates of various morphologies from amphiphilic block copolymers in solution. Polym Adv Technol, 1998, 9: 677–699
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, A., Chen, J., Cui, Y. et al. Synthesis and characterization of amphiphilic centipede-like copolymer PS-PS-PMAA. Sci. China Chem. 54, 1584–1589 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-011-4341-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-011-4341-8