Incorporating inorganic or organometallic moieties into organic polymers to obtain organic-inorganic hybrid with new properties has attracted considerable interest. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), a hybrid molecule with nanoscale dimension, is emerging as new chemical feedstock for preparing organic-inorganic nanocomposites. However, little attention has been focused on the synthesis and self-assembly behaviors of block/random copolymers containing POSS with novel architectures, especially these hybrid assemblies that can respond to multiple external stimuli. Our work aims at synthesizing well-defined POSS based amphiphilic block/random copolymers via living radical polymerization, preparing nano-hybrid materials with novel topological structure by utilizing self-assembly technology in solutions, and further tuning parameters to explore the stimuli-responsive property. We have found different polymeric units that have distinct responsive moieties are incorporated into one copolymer system, which will display multiple responsive mechanisms. The introduction of MAPOSS domain makes it possible for these novel hybrid copolymers to self-assemble into aggregates owing to the strongly hydrophobic nature of the silicon-containing moieties. More importantly, the incorporation of other hydrophilic monomers in these copolymers is proposed to be capable of displaying temperature-responsive, pH-responsive, metal ions-responsive and so on, see Figure1(a, b, c). More recently, we have prepared a novel hybrid micelle self-assembled from interpolyelectrolyte complexation based on random POSS-containing copolymers. Study on hybrid micelle reveals that electrostatic interaction has a tremendous effect of on thermo-responsive, see Figure 1d.

Study on synthesis, self-assembly behavior, and mutiple stimuli-responsive property of POSS-based block or random copolymer in solutions

248th National Meeting (2014)

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