Amphiphilic metal-centered six-arm star block copolymers were prepared by the sequential
addition of two different oxazoline monomers to the hexafunctional metalloinitiator, [Fe(4,4‘-bis(chloromethyl)-2,2‘-bipyridine)](PF6)2. Polymers of the form [Fe{bpy(PEOX−PUOX)2}3]X2, [Fe{bpy(PUOX−PEOX)2}3]X2, and [Fe{bpy(PEOX−PPOX)2}3]X2 (PEOX = poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline); PUOX = poly(2-undecyl-2-oxazoline); PPOX = poly(2-phenyl-2-oxazoline); X = Cl, I, or PF6) were generated by reaction
of the appropriate 2-R-2-oxazolines (R = Et, Ph, undecyl). In some cases sodium iodide was added to
activate the initiator, and dipropylamine was used for termination. Since the labile core polymers fragment
during GPC analysis, the iron was removed by reaction with aqueous K2CO3 for MW characterization by
multiangle laser light scattering in CHCl3 solution. The resulting bpy-centered telechelic BAB triblock
copolymers, bpy(PEOX−PUOX)2, bpy(PUOX−PEOX)2, and bpy(PEOX−PPOX)2, exhibit narrow molecular
weight distributions (PDIs < 1.1) and molecular weights close to targeted values. For polymers prepared
from ethyl and undecyl monomers, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements were performed
for Fe-centered star homopolymers and block copolymers as well as for the corresponding metal-free
bpy-centered linear polymers. DSC runs of block copolymers show T
g and T
m values that correlate well
with those observed for the respective ethyl- and undecyloxazoline homopolymers.