Issue 12, 2017

An efficient route to synthesize thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of poly[o-aminobenzyl alcohol-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)]

Abstract

A new strategy to prepare thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of poly[o-aminobenzyl alcohol-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)] [P(oABA-g-PNIPAM)] via the grafting-through approach by combination of the RAFT polymerization and acid-catalyzed polymerization of aniline derivatives is proposed. Ascribed to the efficient acid-catalyzed polymerization, the present strategy affords the convenient synthesis of the thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of P(oABA-g-PNIPAM). In the molecular bottlebrushes of P(oABA-g-PNIPAM), the thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) chains are densely grafted to the poly(o-aminobenzyl alcohol) backbone, which leads to strong steric repulsion among the side chains of PNIPAM and therefore retards the soluble-to-insoluble phase transition of the tethered PNIPAM chains. It is found that the soluble-to-insoluble phase transition of P(oABA-g-PNIPAM) takes place at a higher lower critical solution temperature (LCST) than that of the linear PNIPAM counterparts, and the PNIPAM side chains in P(oABA-g-PNIPAM) are just partly dehydrated even at the temperature above LCST, which is different from the linear PNIPAM counterparts.

Graphical abstract: An efficient route to synthesize thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of poly[o-aminobenzyl alcohol-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)]

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Dec 2016
Accepted
01 Mar 2017
First published
02 Mar 2017

Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 1932-1942

An efficient route to synthesize thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of poly[o-aminobenzyl alcohol-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)]

S. Wang, C. Liu, H. Zhou, C. Gao and W. Zhang, Polym. Chem., 2017, 8, 1932 DOI: 10.1039/C6PY02188C

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