Premium
Water‐Induced Transitions from Ellipsoidal Micelles to Chain‐Like Nanostructures Self‐Assembled by the Coil‐Rod‐Coil Block Copolymer Based on Hydrogen‐Bonding Urea Groups
Author(s) -
Qi Rui,
Jin Yong,
Cheng Xinfeng,
Li Hanping,
Lai Shuangquan,
Sun Xiaopeng
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201600120
Subject(s) - copolymer , hydrogen bond , micelle , electromagnetic coil , polymer chemistry , urea , chain (unit) , nanostructure , chemistry , self assembly , materials science , chemical engineering , polymer , nanotechnology , aqueous solution , organic chemistry , molecule , physics , astronomy , engineering , electrical engineering
Herein, a novel coil‐rod‐coil triblock copolymer with the coil blocks composed of poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether and the rigid midterm block alternatively connected with isophorone diisocyanate and isophorone diamine is developed. The triblock copolymer can self‐assemble into ellipsoidal micelles in 1‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidinone. After the addition of a second coil‐selective solvent (water) to the micellar solutions, these ellipsoidal micelles can further transform into chain‐like nanostructures. The self‐assembly behavior is highly influenced by the additional order of the solvents, which is considerably due to the impacts of the hydrogen‐bonding urea groups and rigid motifs. The transition of the ellipsoidal micelles to chain‐like nanostructures is governed by the water molar fractions. The sizes of the chain‐like nanostructures increase first and then decrease with the growth of the water molar fractions in the mixed solutions.