Direct Imaging of Self-Organized Comb Copolymer-like Systems Obtained by Hydrogen Bonding:  Poly(4-vinylpyridine)−4-Nonadecylphenol

Abstract

Comb copolymer-like systems obtained by hydrogen bonding between flexible polymers and nonmesogenic amphiphiles represent a class of supramolecular materials with interesting self-organizing properties. Here we present the first results of transmission electron microscopy applied to mesomorphic systems of poly(4-vinyl pyridine)-4-nonadecylphenol as a characteristic example. Phase contrast imaging of iodine-stained samples confirms the highly ordered lamellar structures with a long period of around 40 Å inferred also from small-angle X-ray scattering data.

Ordering in Supramolecular Elastomer−Amphiphile Systems. 4. Vinylpyridine−Divinylbenzene Networks with Alkylphenols

“…This is also confirmed by Figure 7, which presents a characteristic TEM picture showing the ordered lamellar structure for P4VP5-(NDP) 1.0 (Figure 7B). The picture is very similar to the recently published data 16 on the linear polymer system, i.e., P4VP(NDP) 1.0 as is also clear from Figure 7A, which presents another example of this system. The TEM study of P4VP20(NDP) 1.0 shows only a very faint remnant ordering ( Figure 7C).…”

“…Besides small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we were able to image lamellar structures with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in the case of the longest surfactant NDP. 16 When the complexation is combined with block copolymers of polystyrene (PS) and P4VP, structures inside structures are formed. 17 In the case of complexation with NDP, i.e., PS-block-P4VP(NDP) 1.0 (subscript denotes number of phenol groups per pyridine group), we were able to image the layered structures inside the P4VP containing domains of the microphase separated block copolymer system.…”

Towards Internal Structuring of Electrospun Fibers by Hierarchical Self‐Assembly of Polymeric Comb‐Shaped Supramolecules

“…5) shows a distinct peak at scattering vector value, q = 0.16 ±1 , roughly corresponding to the long period L P = 39 of a lamellar structure of bulk PV4P(PDP) 1.0 known from our previous work. [12,30] The second-order peak is not resolved here, but it is known to be very small, because of the roughly similar thicknesses of the polar and the non-polar layers. These results indicate that, despite the rough processing conditions during electrospinning, hydrogen-bonding between the amphiphile and the diblock copolymer does not break, i.e., electrospinning does not ªpurgeº the existing supramolecular complexes.…”

Nanofabrication in polymer matrices

“…Due to their comparatively large length scales, photonic crystals range at the border between nanostructures and microstructures. In addition to the use of liquid-crystalline blocks, Thomas and collaborators [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] have also explored the supramolecular formation from more complex molecular architectures. These include three-miktoarm star terpolymers [38], comb-coil diblock co-polymers [42] and linear tetrablocks and inverse star-blocks [43].…”