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Near-infrared (NIR) photoinduced chemical processes are highly attractive for specific applications owing to the deep penetration of NIR into the nontransparent materials including biological and s...

A series of novel amphiphilic 21-arm, starlike diblock copolymers, poly(acrylic acid)-b-poly(3-hexylthiophene) (PAA-b-P3HT), based on β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with well-defined molecular architectures and ratio of two chemically distinct blocks were prepared, for the first time, via a combination of quasi-living Grignard metathesis method (GRIM), click reaction, and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The starlike PAA-b-P3HT diblock copolymers consist of hydrophilic coil-like PAA cores and hydrophobic rodlike P3HT shells with narrow molecular weight distribution and well-defined molecular weight of each block. Owing to the compact structure, the amphiphilic starlike PAA-b-P3HT formed a unimolecular micelle. Emulsion based on these novel amphiphilic starlike, coil–rod diblock copolymers were readily produced by cross-linking hydrophilic coil-like PAA cores with a bifunctional cross-linker, ethylenediamine.

A series of novel amphiphilic multiarm, star-like block copolymers, poly(acrylic acid)-b-polystyrene (PAA-b-PS) based on β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with well-defined molecular architectures, molecular weight, and ratio of two dissimilar blocks were prepared by sequential atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). β-CD with 21 hydroxyl groups was esterified by the reaction of its hydroxyl end groups with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide, producing star-like heptakis[2,3,6-tri-O-(2-bromo-2-methylpropionyl]-β-cyclodextrin) (denoted 21-Br-β-CD). Subsequently, 21-Br-β-CD was utilized to initiate sequential ATRP of tert-butyl acrylate (tBA) and styrene (St). A series of 21-arm, star-like diblock copolymers, poly(tert-butyl acrylate)-b-polystyrene (PtBA-b-PS) were thus obtained. Finally, the ester groups of tBA in star-like PtBA-b-PS were selectively hydrolyzed by trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), thereby yielding amphiphilic 21-arm, star-like diblock copolymer PAA-b-PS with narrow molecular weight distribution (polydispersity ...

in which the macromonomers are copolymerized.Itiswell-knownthatcontrolledpolymerizationssuchasanionic,ATRP, and RAFT are powerful tools for the synthesis of linearpolymerswithwell-controlledmolecularweightandpolydispersity,and it is possible to make topological tailoring on polymer by thereactionsofanionwithsomefunctionalcompoundsormodificationof the end groups.