Physical gelation of AB-alternating copolymers made of vinyl phenol and maleimide units: cooperation between precisely incorporated phenol and long alkyl pendant groups

Gélification physique de copolymères AB alternés composés d'unités vinylphénol et maléimide: coopération entre les groupes pendants phénol et alkyle incorporés avec précision.

Kana Nishimori (1) , Esther Cazares-Cortes (2) , Jean-Michel Guigner (3) , Francois Tournilhac (2) , Makoto Ouchi (1)

1 Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan
2 C3M - Chimie Moléculaire, Macromoléculaire et Matériaux (UMR7167)
3 IMPMC - Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie

A series of alternating copolymers consisting of vinyl phenol and n-alkyl maleimide was synthesized via radical copolymerization of a protected styrene derivative with a functional maleimide monomer followed by the deprotection. The copolymers carrying long alkyl pendant such as C12H25-or C18H37-chains on the maleimide unit showed UCST-type thermal response in aromatic solvents and organogels were specifically formed upon cooling of the fluid solution prepared at higher temperature. Hydrogen bonding of the phenol units is crucial for the gelation and the gelation temperature and stiffness were tuneable by varying concentration, solvent and polymerization degree. Analyses by 1 H-NMR, linear rheology, WAXD, SANS and cryo-TEM gave the picture of vermicular self-assembled nano-objects formed through segregated and hydrogen-bonded packing by the precisely incorporated two units in alternating sequence.

Domaines: Chimie; Polymères; Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

Kana Nishimori, Esther Cazares-Cortes, Jean-Michel Guigner, Francois Tournilhac, Makoto Ouchi. Physical gelation of AB-alternating copolymers made of vinyl phenol and maleimide units: cooperation between precisely incorporated phenol and long alkyl pendant groups. Polymer Chemistry, 2019, 10 (18), pp.2327-2336. ⟨10.1039/C9PY00329K⟩. ⟨hal-02392164⟩