Monte Carlo simulations show that copolymers with uniformly (or periodically) distributed sticky comonomers collapse "cooperatively," abruptly forming a compact intermediate comprising a monomer shell surrounding a core of the aggregated comonomers. In comparison, random copolymers collapse through a relatively less-compact intermediate comprising a comonomer core surrounded by a fluffy monomer...

Three polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (S2VP diblock) and three polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (S4VP diblock) copolymers with varying molecular weights and block compositions were synthesized via anionic polymerization, and their order-disorder transition temperatures (TODTs) were determined using oscillatory shear rheometry and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). It has been f...

Novel thermo- and pH-dual responsive amphiphilic copolymers were synthesized based on hyperbranched polyethylenimine (PEI) by grafting L-phenylalanine. The phenylalanine-modified PEI exhibited lower cytotoxicity than commercial PEI. These copolymers showed the phenomena of phase transitions in response to pH and temperature. The dilute copolymer solution at lower pH displayed the higher LCST. F...

The copolymerization of bio-renewable β-myrcene or β-farnesene with styrene was examined using an ansa-neodymocene catalyst, affording two series of copolymers with high styrene content and unprecedented syndioregularity of the polystyrene sequences. The incorporation of terpene in the copolymers ranged from 5.6 to 30.8 mol % (β-myrcene) and from 2.5 to 9.8 mol % (β-farnesene), respectively. NM...

The applications of block copolymers are myriad, ranging from electronics to functionalized resins to therapeutics. The ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) is an especially valuable reaction for block copolymer assembly because each block can be generated with length control. We sought to use this polymerization to expand the repertoire of block copolymers by implementing a strategy t...

We present a hybrid method to investigate the isotropic-nematic (I-N) transition in athermal solutions of rod-coil copolymers. This method incorporates the scaled-particle theory for semiflexible chains with two-chain Monte Carlo simulation for the osmotic second virial coefficient and for the angle-dependent excluded volume. We compare the theoretical prediction with Monte Carlo simulations fo...

Regioregular polythiophene-based conductive copolymers with highly crystalline nanostructures are shown to hold considerable promise as the active layer in volatile organic compound (VOC) chemresistor sensors. While the regioregular polythiophene polymer chain provides a charge conduction path, its chemical sensing selectivity and sensitivity can be altered either by incorporating a second poly...

The synthesis of a series of new rod-coil diblock copolymers with different molecular weights and low polydispersity was achieved by atom transfer radical polymerization. The block architecture (coil-conformation of styrene segment and rigid-rod conformation of 2,5-bis[(4-methoxyphenyl)-oxycarbonyl]styrene segment) of the diblock copolymers was experimentally confirmed by proton nuclear magneti...

Hydrophobic ultrahigh molecular weight bottlebrush block copolymer and linear block copolymer of polystyrene-polylactide (PS-PLA) were shown to be capable of forming Langmuir monolayers and exhibiting unique assembly behaviors at the air/water interface, which cannot be addressed by the classic theory of Langmuir monolayer of amphiphilic copolymers. New models were proposed to illustrate these ...