Tunable Hairy and Crew-Cut Supermicelles from Poly(N-Octyl Glycine)-Based Diblock Copolymer via a Hierarchical Assembly Strategy

Fabrication of hierarchical superstructures by utilizing bioinspired polymeric materials shows great potential that has attracted considerable attention. A new hierarchical assembly approach has been developed to fabricate supramolecular structures in a one-pot preparation from crystallizable polypeptoids-based block copolymers. Herein, both hairy and crew-cut supermicelles are reported by systematically tuning the temperature and solvent from a series of poly(ethylene glycol)(112)-block-poly(N-octylglycine)(n) (PEG(112)-b-PNOG(n)) with different degrees of polymerization of PNOG. The incorporation of a third polar component poly(N-allylglycine)-graft-COOH (PNAG-g-COOH) into the amphiphilic diblock copolymers can promote the formation of crew-cut supermicelles owing to enhanced intermolecular interactions. It is demonstrated that both surface energy and crystallization energy are of great importance for the preparation of different types of supermicelles.

Automated summary

The fabrication of hierarchical superstructures using bioinspired polymeric materials has great potential. Researchers have developed a new approach to assemble supramolecular structures in a one-pot preparation using crystallizable polypeptoids-based block copolymers. By systematically tuning the temperature and solvent, both hairy and crew-cut supermicelles were successfully prepared.