Facile Method for the Synthesis of Polystyrene-Poly(ethylene glycol) Block Copolymers

A facile method for synthesis of polystyrene-poly(ethylene glycol) block copolymers under mild conditions, for instance, ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure, by the direct esterification condensation reaction was developed. The block copolymers were characterized with such techniques as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, (1)H-NMR, gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. The results show that block copolymers with a yield of over 80% were successfully synthesized with this facile approach, and the resulting block copolymers exhibited both glass-transition and melting endothermal signals and both amorphous and crystal phases as well; this indicated that the block copolymers had a microphase-separated structure. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 259-265, 2010