Block copolymers are technologically relevant materials that microphase separate at the ~10-100 nm length scale. The phase behavior of linear diblock and multiblock copolymers comprising two distinct homopolymer segments, A and B, is governed by two order parameters: copolymer composition (fA =1- fB) and the segregation strength, ?ABN, where N is the total degree of polymerization and ?AB quantifies the interaction parameter for unfavorable A/B monomer contacts. The microphase separation of architecturally more complex block copolymers, such as block copolymer bottlebrushes, is less well understood. In this presentation, I will describe a synthetic approach that exploits a combination of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), living ring-opening transesterification polymerization (ROTEP), and living ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) to produce a library of well-defined, narrow dispersity Janus-type bottlebrush block copolymers with variable arm molecular weights and backbone degrees of polymerization. The implications of this molecular architecture on the melt self-assembly behavior of these materials will be discussed, with specific attention to the types of accessible morphologies and the range of accessible microdomain sizes.

Synthesis and melt self-assembly behavior of Janus-type bottlebrush block copolymers

248th National Meeting (2014)

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