Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun.
2010, 75, 493-505
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc2009539
Published online 2010-05-03 11:16:47
Self-association of copolymers with various composition profiles
Jitka Kuldováa,*, Peter Košovana, Zuzana Limpouchováa, Karel Procházkaa and Oleg V. Borisovb
a Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Hlavova 8, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic
b Institut Pluridisciplinaire de Recherche sur l’Environnement et les Matériaux, UMR 5254, UPPA CNRS, 64053 Pau, France
Abstract
In this paper, we present Monte Carlo study of the self-assembly of linear copolymers consisting of two types of segments (well soluble A and insoluble B segments) in selective solvents. We used simple lattice model: chains were represented by self-avoiding random walks and quality of solvent for both types of segments was controlled by pair interaction parameters. We analyzed how the association behavior depends on the composition profile, i.e., on the sequence of segments A and B along the chain. The size and structure of associates formed by chains with different composition profiles were compared with those of diblock copolymers with the same content of A and B segments. It was shown that even small changes in the sequence of segments within the chains lead to significant differences in the association behavior. In addition to composition profiles, we also shown how the association behavior depends on the quality of solvent and copolymer concentration.
Keywords: Monte Carlo calculations; Amphiphilic polymers; Micelles; Diblock copolymers; Solvent effects.
References: 37 live references.
