Homo- and Diblock Coploymers of Poly(furfuryl glycidyl ether) by Living Anionic Polymerization: Towards Reversibly Core-Crosslinked Micelles

Barthel, Markus J.; Rudolph, Tobias; Crotty, Sarah; Schacher, Felix H.; Schubert, Ulrich S.

Abstract:

We report the synthesis and characterization of well-defined homo- and diblock copolymers containing poly(furfuryl glycidyl ether) (PFGE) via living anionic ring-opening polymerization using different initiators. The obtained materials were characterized by SEC, MALDI-TOF MS, and 1H NMR spectroscopy and molar masses of up to 9400 g/mol were obtained for PFGE homopolymers. If the amphiphilic diblock copolymer PEG-block-PFGE was dissolved in water, micelles with a PFGE core and a PEG corona were formed. Hereby, the hydrophobic PFGE core domains were used for the incorporation of a suitable bismaleimide and heating to 60 °C induced the crosslinking of the micellar core via Diels-Alder chemistry. This process was further shown to be reversible.

Year:

2012

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

anionic polymerization; block copolymers; crosslinking; furfuryl glycidyl ether; poly ethylene glycol; ring-opening polymerization; self-assembly; self-healing

Journal:

Journal of Polymer Science: Part A: Polymer Chemistry

Volume:

50

Pages:

4958 - 4965