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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Synthesis of Monodisperse Cylindrical Nanoparticles via Crystallization-driven Self-assembly of Biodegradable Block Copolymers
Published on: June 20, 2019
Efficient synthesis of high molar mass, first- to fourth-generation distributed dendronized polymers by the
Afang Zhang1, Bin Zhang, Eva Wächtersbach
1Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Chemie, Takustrasse 3, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
A homologous series of first- to fourth-generation (G1-G4) dendronized macromonomers, 5, 7, 10, and 12, was synthesized, and their polymerization behavior under radical conditions investigated. These conditions were thermally induced radical polymerization (TRP) and atom-transfer radical poymerization (ATRP). TRP was applied to all monomers and gave polymers PG1-PG4, whose molar masses range from several millions for PG1 to estimated several hundreds of thousands for PG2 and PG3, and to the oligomeric regime for PG4. ATRP was applied only to the G1 and G2 monomers 5 and 7. Kinetic studies on monomer 5 provide evidence that its polymerization proceeds in a controlled fashion. The highest monomer-to-initiator ratios which still gave monomodal molar mass distributions were 300:1 (for 5) and 100:1 (for 7), which correspond to achievable molar mass regime for PG1 and PG2 of approximately M(n)=100 000 (DP(calcd)(PG1)=200, DP(calcd)(PG2)=90). The polydispersities lie in the usual range (PDI=1.1-1.2). The molar masses were determined by GPC in DMF with calibration against absolute molar masses of PG1 determined by light scattering.
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