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Effect of Butyl α-Hydroxymethyl Acrylate Monomer Structure on the Morphology Produced via Aqueous Emulsion Polymerization-induced Self-assembly

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Abstract

Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) is an efficient and versatile method to afford polymeric nano-objects with polymorphic morphologies. Compared to dispersion PISA syntheses based on soluble monomers, the vast majority of emulsion PISA formulations using insoluble monomers leads to kinetically-trapped spheres. Herein, we present aqueous emulsion PISA formulations generating worms and vesicles besides spheres. Two monomers with different butyl groups, n-butyl (nBHMA) and tert-butyl (tBHMA) α-hydroxymethyl acrylate, and thus possessing different water solubilities were synthesized via Baylis-Hillman reaction. Photoinitiated aqueous emulsion polymerizations of nBHMA and tBHMA employing poly(ethylene glycol) macromolecular chain transfer agents (macro-CTAs, PEG45-CTA, and PEG113-CTA) at 40 °C were systematically investigated to evaluate the effect of monomer structure and solubility on the morphology of the generated block copolymer nano-objects. Higher order morphologies including worms and vesicles were readily accessed for tBHMA, which has a higher water solubility than that of nBHMA. This study proves that plasticization of the core-forming block by water plays a key role in enhancing chain mobility required for morphological transition in emulsion PISA.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21674059).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Shou-Kuo Man, Xiao Wang & Jin-Wen Zheng

  2. State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Ze-Sheng An

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  1. Shou-Kuo Man
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Correspondence to Xiao Wang or Ze-Sheng An.

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Effect of Butyl α-Hydroxymethyl Acrylate Monomer Structure on the Morphology Produced via Aqueous Emulsion Polymerization-induced Self-assembly

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Man, SK., Wang, X., Zheng, JW. et al. Effect of Butyl α-Hydroxymethyl Acrylate Monomer Structure on the Morphology Produced via Aqueous Emulsion Polymerization-induced Self-assembly. Chin J Polym Sci 38, 9–16 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-019-2303-3

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