TY - JOUR
T1 - One-Pot Synthesis of Strong Anionic/Charge-Neutral Amphiphilic Block Copolymers
AU - Pelras, Théophile
AU - Eisenga, András
AU - Érsek, Gábor
AU - Altomare, Aldo
AU - Portale, Giuseppe
AU - Kamperman, Marleen
AU - Loos, Katja
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors warmly thank Albert J. J. Woortman, Jur van Dijken, and Dr. Marc C. A. Stuart for their technical assistance with size exclusion chromatography, thermal characterization, and electron microscopy, respectively. T.P. acknowledges the comments of Anton H. Hofman on the polyelectrolyte effect. This research received funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) in the framework of the ENW PPP Fund for the top sectors and from the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the framework of the ‘PPS-Toeslagregeling’. M.K. is the grateful recipient of a European Research Council grant (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, consolidator grant agreement no. 864982). The authors warmly thank Dina Maniar for her cover art design. T.P. warmly thanks Rustine.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
PY - 2023/8/15
Y1 - 2023/8/15
N2 - Despite the ever more versatile polymerization techniques that are becoming available, the synthesis of macromolecules with tailored functionalities can remain a lengthy endeavor. This becomes more conspicuous when the implementation of incompatible chemistries (i.e., strong polyelectrolytes) within sequence-controlled polymers is desired, often requiring (i) polymerization, (ii) chain extension, and (iii) postpolymerization modification. Herein, we explore the production of strong anionic/charge-neutral block copolymers (BCPs) in a one-pot fashion. This straightforward three-step process includes the synthesis of a macroinitiator and chain extension via rapid and efficient photomediated atom transfer radical polymerization, followed by in situ deprotection to expose the polyanionic domains. The resulting BCPs, which are strong amphiphiles by nature, are capable of self-assembly in aqueous media, as evidenced by dynamic light scattering, small-angle X-ray scattering, ζ-potential measurements, and transmission electron microscopy. We further demonstrate the versatility of our methodology by producing several BCPs through sampling of a single reaction mixture, enabling the straightforward production of strong polymer amphiphiles.
AB - Despite the ever more versatile polymerization techniques that are becoming available, the synthesis of macromolecules with tailored functionalities can remain a lengthy endeavor. This becomes more conspicuous when the implementation of incompatible chemistries (i.e., strong polyelectrolytes) within sequence-controlled polymers is desired, often requiring (i) polymerization, (ii) chain extension, and (iii) postpolymerization modification. Herein, we explore the production of strong anionic/charge-neutral block copolymers (BCPs) in a one-pot fashion. This straightforward three-step process includes the synthesis of a macroinitiator and chain extension via rapid and efficient photomediated atom transfer radical polymerization, followed by in situ deprotection to expose the polyanionic domains. The resulting BCPs, which are strong amphiphiles by nature, are capable of self-assembly in aqueous media, as evidenced by dynamic light scattering, small-angle X-ray scattering, ζ-potential measurements, and transmission electron microscopy. We further demonstrate the versatility of our methodology by producing several BCPs through sampling of a single reaction mixture, enabling the straightforward production of strong polymer amphiphiles.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166762028&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsmacrolett.3c00355
DO - 10.1021/acsmacrolett.3c00355
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85166762028
SN - 2161-1653
VL - 12
SP - 1071
EP - 1078
JO - Acs Macro Letters
JF - Acs Macro Letters
ER -