NSF-BSF: Tapered Bottlebrush Block Copolymers: Synthesis, Solution Self-Assembly, and Simulations

非技术性总结：在材料研究部聚合物项目的资助下，John B教授。弗吉尼亚理工大学的马特森和以色列本-古里安大学的罗尼特·比顿教授领导了一个团队，他们正在创造一种新型的圆锥形聚合物。锥形聚合物在溶液中的行为和相互作用目前尚不清楚，因为合成这些聚合物的方法只是最近开发的。这项工作很重要，因为聚合物在水中相互作用，形成1-100纳米尺寸范围内的聚集体，用于各种应用，但缺乏关于圆锥形状如何影响聚集体形状和尺寸的基础研究。研究团队将依靠一种方法，将聚合物合成、纳米级聚集体的表征和聚集体的计算机模拟联系起来，以产生描述这些独特聚合物在水中行为的理论。总的来说，这些努力将推动聚合物自组装领域的发展，为生物医学，催化，食品科学和其他领域的应用提供聚合物设计的潜在好处。由于NSF-BSF提案的协作和跨文化方面，该平台将在弗吉尼亚理工大学传播科学中心的帮助下用于加强科学交流。校外教育的目标，这项建议的重点是加强青少年体验科学（YES）计划为第4-第8年级在西南Virginia.Technical摘要：这个NSF-BSF项目的重点是锥形两亲bottlebrush嵌段共聚物（BCP），这是接枝聚合物与高接枝密度设计采取一个近似圆锥形。这项工作采用了综合的方法来合成，表征和模拟锥形瓶刷BCP。合成工作将依赖于开环易位（ROMP）接枝通过方法，以制造各种各样的锥形瓶刷BCP的主链和侧链的聚合度可变。锥形瓶刷BCP的解决方案自组装将系统地研究使用一系列的表征技术，包括电子显微镜和小角X射线和中子散射（SAXS，SANS）。建模研究将包括粗粒度的模型，在一个反馈回路，以解释观察到的形态，并建议新的锥形瓶刷BCP，可以自组装成独特的或意想不到的解决方案形态。该项目的中心假设是锥形瓶刷BCP的锥角将影响自组装形态和尺寸分布。这种合成-表征-建模方法的预期成果包括发现锥角如何影响聚合物自组装，最终揭示对聚合物结构如何影响材料性能的新认识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:With funding from the Polymers Program of the Division of Materials Research, Professor John B. Matson of Virginia Tech and Prof. Ronit Bitton of Ben-Gurion University in Israel lead a team that is creating new polymers that take on a conical shape. How cone-shaped polymers behave and interact in solution is currently unknown because methods to synthesize these polymers were only recently developed. This work is important because polymers that interact in water to form aggregates on the size range of 1-100 nanometers are used in a variety of applications, but fundamental studies on how cone shape influences aggregate shape and size are lacking. The research team will rely on an approach that connects polymer synthesis, characterization of nanometer-scale aggregates, and computer simulations of aggregates to generate theories describing how these unique polymers behave in water. Collectively, these efforts will advance the field of polymer self-assembly, offering potential benefits in the design of polymers for applications in biomedicine, catalysis, food science, and other areas. Due to the collaborative and cross-cultural aspects of this NSF-BSF proposal, this platform will be used to enhance scientific communication with assistance from the Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science. Off-campus educational goals of this proposal focus on enhancing the Youth Experiencing Science (YES) program for 4th–8th graders in southwestern Virginia.TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This NSF-BSF project focuses on tapered amphiphilic bottlebrush block copolymers (BCPs), which are graft polymers with high grafting density designed to take on an approximately conical shape. The work incorporates an integrated approach to the synthesis, characterization, and simulations of tapered bottlebrush BCPs. Synthetic efforts will rely on ring-opening metathesis (ROMP) grafting-through methods to make a wide range of tapered bottlebrush BCPs with variable degrees of polymerization for the backbone and side chains. The solution self-assembly of tapered bottlebrush BCPs will be systematically investigated using a range of characterization techniques including electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS, SANS). Modeling studies will include coarse-grained models, in a feedback loop, to explain the observed morphologies and suggest new tapered bottlebrush BCPs that could self-assemble into unique or unexpected solution morphologies. The central hypothesis for this project is that the cone angle of the tapered bottlebrush BCPs will influence self-assembled morphology and size distribution. Expected outcomes from this synthesis–characterization–modeling approach include discovering how cone angle influences polymer self-assembly, ultimately revealing new understanding of how polymer structure influences material properties. .This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.