Self-assembly in water of poly(acrylic acid)-based diblock copolymers synthesized by nitroxide-mediated polymerization

Amphiphilic diblock copolymers consisting of a hydrophilic block, poly(acrylic acid), and a hydrophobic block, polystyrene, were synthesized by direct nitroxide-mediated polymerization using the PS block as a macro-initiator for the first time. Several techniques were used to characterize the amphiphilic block copolymers (size exclusion chromatography, NMR spectroscopy). The proposed method can lead to samples with a broad range of composition and molar mass. Preliminary studies of their self-assembly in aqueous medium using fluorescence spectroscopy and small-angle neutron scattering are presented.