Morphologies of Block and Star-Branched Polymers with Three Components

Morphologies of Block and Star-Branched Polymers with Three Components 

Department of Polymer Chemistry, Kyoto University, Japan 

Complex Macromolecular Architectures Synthesis, Characterization, and Self-Assembly, First Edition. 

Edited by Nikos Hadjichristidis, Akira Hirao, Yasuyuki Tezuka and Filip Du Prez. 

Adding C block, a third component, to the end of an AB diblock copolymer produces an ABC linear triblock terpolymer. The syntheses of ABC triblock terpolymers in good quality are not so easy because each step of the sequential living polymerization of A, B and C monomers contains a chance to produce byproducts such as homopolymers and AB diblock copolymers that contaminate the system. This may be one of the reasons why the number of systems studied on ABC triblock terpolymers is much smaller than that on AB diblock copolymers. Another reason is that the number of parameters that defines the mesoscopic organizations of block copolymers increases dramatically just by adding another component to diblock copolymers. Whereas an AB diblock copolymer is defined by three parameters, (/ a, Xab and A, a triblock terpolymer consisting of A, B and C blocks requires six parameters, (/ a, / b = j a I b)  

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