Synthesis of non-uniform functionalized amphiphilic block copolymers and giant vesicles in the presence of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction

Abstract

© 2019 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Giant vesicles with several-micrometer diameters were prepared by the self-assembly of an amphiphilic block copolymer in the presence of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The vesicle is composed of a non-uniform triblock copolymer synthesized by multi-step reactions in the presence of air at room temperature. The triblock copolymer contains poly(glycerol monomethacrylate) (PGMA) as the hydrophilic block copolymerized with tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) (Ru(bpy)3), which catalyzes the BZ reaction, and 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) as the hydrophobic block. In this new approach, the radicals generated in the BZ reaction can activate a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to self-assemble the polymer into vesicles with diameters of approximately 3 µm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements demonstrated that the PGMA-b-Ru(bpy)3-b-PHPMA triblock copolymer is brominated and i