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Solubilization of poly(styrene)(PS)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)-b-PS in poly(n-nonyl acrylate) and PMMA monolayers as isolated chains with both PS blocks forming separated single-block particles

Polymer Journal volume 54, pages 687–696 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

A polymer with a hydrophilic group, such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), spreads as a monolayer on a water surface, whereas a polymer without a hydrophilic group, such as polystyrene (PS), does not spread but instead forms aggregates that are much thicker than the monolayer. Previously, we spread PS-b-PMMA from a very dilute solution to avoid intermolecular aggregation and found that a single PS block aggregated to form a PS single-block particle from which a PMMA monolayer emanated. In this study, we investigated whether PS-b-PMMA-b-PS could be used to prepare PS single-block particles at both ends without aggregation of the PS blocks. We used mixed monolayers with a small amount of PS-b-PMMA-b-PS and a large amount of poly(n-nonyl acrylate) (PNA) or PMMA. Both PNA and PMMA form miscible monolayers with the middle PMMA block, preventing the PS blocks from aggregating at both ends. PS-b-PMMA-b-PS was successfully solubilized as isolated chains in the matrix monolayers with PS single-block particles at both ends. We evaluated the end-to-end distance using the PS single-block particles at the ends and found that the PMMA block chain was not highly segregated in the PMMA monolayer but rather was elongated and interpenetrated with the matrix chains.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP25107706, JP20H05201, JP21H01993, and JP21K18993.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Yamagata, 992-8510, Japan

    Fumiki Honma & Jiro Kumaki

  2. Department of Organic Materials Science, Graduate School of Organic Materials Science, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Yamagata, 992-8510, Japan

    Jiro Kumaki

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  1. Fumiki Honma
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Correspondence to Jiro Kumaki.

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Honma, F., Kumaki, J. Solubilization of poly(styrene)(PS)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)-b-PS in poly(n-nonyl acrylate) and PMMA monolayers as isolated chains with both PS blocks forming separated single-block particles. Polym J 54, 687–696 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-022-00614-2

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