Periodic and Aperiodic Tiling Patterns from a Tetrablock Terpolymer System of the A₁BA₂C Type

Two tetrablock terpolymers of the S₁IS₂P type, where S, I, and P denote polystyrene, polyisoprene, and poly(2-vinylpyridine), respectively, were prepared anionically. S₁IS₂P-1 (S₁/I/S₂/P = 0.35/0.16/0.34/0.15, four numbers being volume fractions of S₁, I, S₂, and P block chains) has a structure with double hexagonal cylinders, while S₁IS₂P-2 (S₁/I/S₂/P = 0.47/0.15/0.22/0.16) has an unusual double tetragonal structure. Moreover, 13 binary blends were prepared from these two parent polymers. Among them, five blends with α(= φ_S1/φ_S2) covering the range 1.50 ≤ α ≤ 1.86 were confirmed to have a 3.3.4.3.4 Archimedean tiling structure, in which their P domains adopt five satellite I domains, while four blends with α covering the range 1.37 ≤ α ≤ 1.48 were revealed to be a quasicrystalline tiling structure with dodecagonal symmetry.