Molecular Architecture Effects on Self-Ordering, Self-Assembled Poly(ethylene oxide) and Copoly(ethylene oxide) Systems

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Cheng 9617030 This grant is funded to study the effect of molecular architecture on the self-ordering and self-assembly mechanisms in a series of well defined crystalline poly(ethylene oxide)s (PEOs) and their diblock copolymers having novel molecular and supra-molecular structures. In particular, molecular architecture can be controlled by synthesizing different molecular shapes and conformations. The two-arm PEOs provide an opportunity to study the defect effect at the center of the chain molecules compared with linear PEOs having twice the molecular length of each arm, while three- and four-arm star-PEOs serve as model compounds for study of the molecular shape dependence on the self- ordering and self-assembly process. Furthermore, it is interesting to study transition behaviors and morphological changes for two-arm PEOs having different linkage positions at the coupling agents. This research can be extended to the investigation of supra-molecular structural dependence on the process via diblock copolymers containing crystallizable PEO components. %%% It is believed that these studies of controlled molecular architecture in both the star-PEOs and diblock copolymers will provide significant new experimental evidence for achieving further understanding in the research are of polymer crystallization.