We are presenting here a variety of self-assembled structures obtained by adjusting the amphiphilic character of a series of PLA/PEG- grafted molecular brushes.  Amphiphilic asymmetric macromolecular brushes with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic side chains attached to each repeating unit were synthesized.  Poly(D,L-lactide) (PLA)  and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were grafted onto a methacrylate backbone by ring-opening polymerization and �click� chemistry.  Brush hydrophilic ratio was varied by changing the length of the PLA block while maintaining a fixed PEG length, and it is expressed in terms of the weight fraction of PEG (wPEG).  Self-assembly of brush amphiphiles was studied.  The morphological transitions of amphiphilic molecular brushes were shown to parallel those of linear diblock amphiphiles.  Moreover, we report on the first known example of toroid formation from the self-assembly of molecular brush amphiphiles and the molecular and process parameters involved in their formation.

Self-assembly of molecular brush amphiphiles

247th National Meeting (2014)

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