Amphiphilic Polystyrene-b-poly(p-hydroxystyrene-g-ethylene oxide) Block-Graft Copolymers via a Combination of Conventional and Metal-Free Anionic Polymerization

This work presents the synthesis of polystyrene-block-poly(p-hydroxystyrene-graft-ethylene oxide), PS-b-(PHOS-g-PEO), amphiphilic block-graft copolymers. The backbone diblock copolymers (PS-b-PHOS) were prepared by lithium-based anionic polymerization, followed by postpolymerization acid hydrolysis of the poly(p-tert-butoxystyrene), PtBOS, precursor block. The PEO side chains were synthesized by metal-free anionic ring-opening polymerization of ethylene oxide (EO), using the phosphazene base (t-BuP)(4) and the phenolic hydroxyl groups (PhOH) in the backbones as the complex multifunctional initiating system. In all cases, starlike block-graft copolymers with high molecular weights and low polydispersities were synthesized. Well-controlled polymerization was achieved even with the molar ratio of t-BuP4 to PhOH being equal to 0.2. Dynamic and static light scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy studies were carried out to investigate the solution behavior of the amphiphilic block-graft copolymers, including the critical micelle concentration and structural characteristics of the aggregates formed in aqueous solutions. Because of the high PEO content and the starlike macromolecular architecture, the PS-b-(PHOS-g-PEO) block-graft copolymers form highly swelled aggregates with low aggregation numbers, having nanostructures resembling hyperbranched clusters.