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Research Areas of Interest Links
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Extended Amphiphilic Dendrons

An extension of linear-linear block-copolymers is the use of a linear polymer chain which is end-functionalized with a dendritic molecule. This molecular architecture is called a coil-dendron system.

Dendrimers and dendrons constitute a subclass of dendritic structures and consist of

Linear-Dendron Copolymer
dendron schematic

In our work, a hydrophobic poly(ether)-type dendron was extended with a linear hydrophilic polymer chain. These macromolecules self-assembled into micellar (a), 1D cylindrical (b), 2D lamellar (c) and 3D continuous cubic (d) mesophases.

Dendron-copolymer phases

Charge transport within this nanostructured material was revealed upon doping the hydrophilic part with lithium ions, i.e. ion conductivity was confined to micelles, cylinders, lamellae or continuous throughout the network.

This approach is of particular interest in areas where charge transport within polymeric matrices is becoming increasingly important, such as ion conductors, photovoltaic or electroluminescent cells.

Functional Dendron-copolymer materials

Selected References

B-K. Cho, A. Jain, J. Nieberle, S. Mahajan, U. Wiesner, S. Gruner, S. Tuerk, H. Raeder. "Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Dendrimers Based on Aliphatic Polyether-Type Dendritic Cores" Macromolecules, 37(11), 2004, 4227-4234.

B-K. Cho, A. Jain, S. Gruner, U. Wiesner. "Mesophase Structure-Mechanical and Ionic Transport Correlations in Extended Amphiphilic Dendrons" Science 305(5690), 2004, 1598-1601.

All images and text Copyright 2008

Wiesner Research Group - Cornell University