Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.140, No.5, 1596-1599, 2018
Stereochemical Sequence Dictates Assembly Unimolecular Diblock Copolymer
Deciphering the significance of length, sequence, and stereochemistry in block copolymer self assembly remains an ongoing challenge. A dearth of methods to access uniform block co-oligomers/polymers with precise stereochemical sequences has precluded such studies. Here, we develop iterative exponential growth methods for the synthesis of a small library of unimolecular stereoisomeric diblock 32-mers. X-ray scattering reveals that stereochemistry modulates the phase behavior of these polymers, which we rationalize based on simulations carried out on a theoretical model system. This work demonstrates that stereochemical sequence can play a crucial role in unimolecular polymer self-assembly.