Bioinspired assembly of functional block-copolymer nanotemplates

Soft Matter. 2013 Oct 28;9(40):9608-14. doi: 10.1039/c3sm51870a.

Abstract

A new concept on bioinspired assembly of functional diblock copolymers, capable of forming different microstructures through nucleobase-induced supramolecular interactions, has been explored. In this paper, a new series of uracil-functionalized poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-(4-vinylbenzyl uracil)s (PCL-b-PVBU) have been prepared which exhibit a high self-complementary ability in solution and solid states owing to the formation of uracil–uracil pairs by induced hierarchical self-assembly. The ordered morphologies of PCL-b-PVBU diblock copolymers changed from a lamellar, hexagonally packed cylinder to a sphere with respect to the content of the hydrogen bond segment. Moreover, we further show that the PCL segment could be easily extracted by enzymatic degradation, leading to a cylinder porous structure of long-range order, which gives a facile method for the fabrication of uracil-functionalized nanotemplates. In addition, bio-complementary PCL-b-PVBU/9-hexadecyladenine (AC16) hierarchical supramolecular complexes formed through strong cooperative hydrogen bonding between the uracil group of PVBU and the adenine group of A-C16. When the mixing ratios of PCL-b-PVBU/AC16 differ from the stoichiometric ratio, these complexes self-assemble into well-ordered lamellar and hexagonal structures; the changing morphology at different AC16 loadings reveals that the molecular structures of the PCL-b-PVBU/AC16 complexes are readily tailored.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Adenine / chemistry
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Polyesters / chemistry*
  • Polyvinyls / chemistry*
  • Uracil / analogs & derivatives*
  • Uracil / chemistry

Substances

  • Polyesters
  • Polyvinyls
  • polycaprolactone
  • Uracil
  • Adenine