Star-Shaped Copolymers of PLA

Star polymers have being gained great attention over the past decades due to their unique three-dimensional shape and properties. Star-shaped and branched 

Cyclophosphazenes (Fig. 4.8(c)) exhibit interesting properties such as flame retardancy, possibility of forming clathrates, and oil repellence. The usage of these compounds was restricted for long time to act as modifiers such as antioxidants, chain extenders, and compatibilizers. As a matter of fact, it is therefore reasonable to prepare polymers with desired properties inherited from 

Yuan et al. [165] reported the synthesis of well-defined dendrimer-star, block-comb polymers by the combination of living ring-opening polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization on the basis of a dendrimer polyester. Star-shaped dendrimer PCLs were synthesized by the bulk polymerization of e-caprolactone with a dendrimer initiator. The dendrimer PCLs tiien were converted into macroinitiators via esterification with 2-bromopropionyl bromide. And the star-block copolymer dendrimer poly(s-caprolactone)-block-poly(2-hydroxyethyl 

Heteroarm or miktoarm star copolymers have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to the imique properties of these polymers, for example, they exhibit dramatic difference in morphology and solution properties. In comparison with the linear block and star-block copolymers, the s)mthesis of heteroarm or miktoarm star copolymers has been one of the more challenging projects available. A typical example is that the synthesis of the heteroarm H-shaped terpolymers, [(PLLA)(PS)]-PEO-[(PS)(PLLA)], in which PEO acts as a main chain and PS and PLLA as side arms (Fig. 4.11). The copolymers have been successfully prepared via combination of reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization and ring-opening polymerization (ROP) by Han and Pan [166]. Another interesting example is that Pan et al. [167] successfully 

---