Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Anionic Polymerization of an Amphiphilic Copolymer for Preparation of Block Copolymer Micelles Stabilized by π-π Stacking Interactions
Published on: October 10, 2016
A thermoresponsive dynamic polymer brush fabricated by the segregation of amphiphilic diblock copolymers
Hirokazu Tanoue1, Kazuma Inoue, Norifumi L Yamada
1Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Chiba 277-8561, Japan. yokoyama@molle.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Abstract:
A highly dense polymer brush was previously fabricated by the spontaneous segregation of amphiphilic diblock copolymers in an elastomer matrix into water and a hydrophobic polymer interface and named a 'dynamic polymer brush'. We fabricated a lower critical solution temperature (LCST)-type thermoresponsive dynamic polymer brush by mixing polyisoprene-b-poly[tri(ethylene glycol)methyl ether methacrylate] (PI-b-PME3MA) into a polystyrene-b-polyisoprene-b-polystyrene (SIS) elastomer. The LCST of PME3MA in water is 52 °C. The structure of the polymer brush was determined at several different temperatures using neutron reflectivity. With increasing temperature, the brush thickness of the LCST-type thermoresponsive dynamic polymer brush decreases, similar to the conventional fixed brush with the LCST-type thermoresponse. However, the graft density of the dynamic polymer brush surprisingly increases with increasing temperature. The change of the brush density of the conventional fixed polymer brush is not allowed. However, we observed for the first time that dynamic polymer brushes uniquely respond to increasing temperature with increasing brush densities.
Related Concept Videos
Polymers
Polymers
Law of Segregation
Characteristics and Nomenclature of Copolymers
Segregation in Fresh Concrete
Dynamic Equilibrium

