Self-assembly of Oppositely Charged Ionic Block Copolymer Complex with Discrete Molecular Weight
발표자
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초록
내용
When the oppositely charged amphiphilic molecules are mixed, they self-assemble to unusual structures via self-organization due to the electrostatic interactions. Oppositely charged block copolymers have seldom been used to mimic such behavior due to the synthetic difficulty and ill-defined chemical structures. Here we report the self-assembly of oppositely charged ionic block copolymer complex to highly ordered structures. We used the convergent method to synthesize monodisperse and precisely defined block co-oligomers (BCOs) having the tetramers of L-malic acid or (s)-4-amino-2-hydroxybutyric acid as a hydrophilic block and oligo(lactic acid) as a hydrophobic block. These oppositely charged BCOs, with an absolutely defined number of cations or anions were mixed in varying ratios for the co-assembly in water. The resulting self-assembled structures were characterized by electron microscopy.