Author : Xinfei Yu
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (124 download)
Book Synopsis Synthesis and Self-assembly of Molecular Shape Amphiphiles by : Xinfei Yu
Download or read book Synthesis and Self-assembly of Molecular Shape Amphiphiles written by Xinfei Yu and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Polymer-tethered nanoparticles are one kind of shape amphiphiles, which are geometric objects with distinct shapes and chemical functionalities. Hydrophilic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) and fullerene (C60) are utilized as model nanoparticles while hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) chains are used as tetheres to construct model molecular shape amphiphiles.PS-tethered carboxylic acid functionalized POSS with different PS chain lengths, PSN-APOSS, were synthesized by combining anionic polymerization and thiol-ene "click" chemistry. PSN-APOSS formed micelles in selective solvents which were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and light scattering (LS) experiments. The effects of PS chain length, common solvents, and solvent/nonsolvent ratio on the micellar morphologies of PSN-APOSS have been investigated. The multivalent interactions between APOSS cages with fixed shape and volume made the self-assembly behaviors of PSN-APOSS distinct from those of traditional amphiphilic block copolymers. The self-assembled ordered structures of PSN-APOSS in the condensed state were studied by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and TEM experiments. The ordered structures changed from lamellae, to hexagonal packed cylinders, and to body-centered cubic spheres as increasing PS chain length. The size of self-assembled structure is around 10 nm, which is challenging for traditional diblock copolymers. 1,3-Dipolar Huisgen cycloaddition of alkyne-azide "click" reaction was utilized to synthesize the PS mono- and di-tethered hydrophilic C60 (PSN-AC60 and 2PSN-AC60) with well-controlled topology and various PS chain lengths. Self-assembled aggregates (micelles and colloidal particles) of these shape amphiphiles were prepared in solutions and studied by TEM and LS experiments. A systematic morphological phase diagram for PSN-AC60 was obtained depending on the molecular concentration, PS chain length, and solvent composition. Concentration-sensitive self-assembled morphologies were ascribed to multivalent interactions between AC60 nanoparticles as well as the PS chain stretching. The topology effect on the formation of both micelles and colloidal particles was revealed by PS44-AC60 and 2PS2323-AC60, which have identical PS weight fractions. These giant molecular shape amphiphiles thus represent a novel class of amphiphilic molecules that have not been systematically explored beyond the traditional surfactants and block copolymers systems, which provide a new platform for understanding supramolecular self-assemblies of amphiphilic molecules in solution and in condensed state.