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Tetracrystalline Tetrablock Quarterpolymers: Four Different Crystallites under the Same Roof
Author(s) -
Ladelta Viko,
Zapsas George,
Abouhamad Edy,
Gnanou Yves,
Hadjichristidis Nikos
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201908688
Subject(s) - crystallite , materials science , chemistry , crystallography
Multicrystalline block polymers having three or more crystalline segments are essential materials for the advancement of physics in the field of crystallinity. The challenging synthesis of multicrystalline polymers has resulted in only a limited number of tricrystalline terpolymers having been reported to date. We report, for the first time, the synthesis of polyethylene‐ b ‐poly(ethylene oxide)‐ b ‐poly(ϵ‐caprolactone)‐ b ‐poly( l ‐lactide) (PE‐ b ‐PEO‐ b ‐PCL‐ b ‐PLLA), a tetracrystalline tetrablock quarterpolymer, by combining polyhomologation, ring‐opening polymerization, and an organic/metal “catalyst switch” strategy. 1 H NMR spectroscopy and gel‐permeation chromatography confirmed the formation of the tetrablock quarterpolymer, while differential scanning calorimetry, X‐ray diffraction, and wide‐line separation solid‐state NMR spectroscopy revealed the existence of four different crystalline domains.