Macromolecules, Vol.43, No.14, 5949-5955, 2010
Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Chiral Poly(amino acid) Star Polymers
Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization techniques were utilized to polymerize N-acryloyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester (L-Phe-OMe) and tetrahydropyranyl acrylate to afford amphiphilic star polymers (with 4 and 6 arms) These copolymer stars have a chiral hydrophobic core domain and can undergo further solution self-assembly to form well-defined nanostructures, which have been characterized using DLS, TEM, and cryo-TEM analysis The characterization and properties of these novel chiral assemblies and their potential in racemic resolution are reported