Structural Study of Star Polyelectrolytes and Their Porous Multilayer Assembly in Solution

Star polyelectrolytes with responsive properties to external stimuli, such as pH, temperature and ionic condition, were utilized to fabricate layer-by-layer (LbL) microcapsules . The microstructure of star polyelectrolytes was first studied in semi-dilute solution by in situ small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). These measurements show that with the addition of salts, arms of strong cationic star polyelectrolytes will contract and the spatial ordering of the stars would be interrupted. SANS measurements were also performed on the microcapsules in order to study their internal structure and responsive properties in solution. The results show that with the increase of shell thickness, microc…

Zwitterionic polymers [CH 2 CR(COOR')] n (R= H, Me; R'= (CH 2 ) 11 + NMe 2 (CH 2 ) 3 SO 3 - , (CH 2 ) 2 + N(CH 3 )([CH 2 ] 3 SO 3 - )C 10 H 21 ) are studied by X-ray scattering. The structural order both in the short-range and long-range scale is investigated. The influence of the polymer backbone, of different locations of the ionic groups in isomeric polymers, of bound water and of added inorganic salts on the bulk structures is studied, and the observed rearrangements are analysed

Discotic Twin and Triple Molecules with Charge-Transfer Interactions in Langmuir−Blodgett Films

X-ray and atomic force microscopy observations reveal features of the surface morphology of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films from discotic donor-acceptor molecules with strong core-to-core interactions caused by a charge-transfer (CT) complexation. The compounds are designed to be twin and triple molecules composed of chemically connected donor (triphenylene) and acceptor (trinitrofluorenone) fragments which display liquid crystalline structure in the bulk state. The LB films from these compounds possess edge-on orientation of molecules within monolayers with a smooth surface on a submicron scale but with substantial macroscopic imperfections. These imperfections are represented by the micron s…

The synthesis and the results of the structural study of two copolysiloxanes with laterally fixed trinitrofluorenone (TNF) units is reported. The two copolysiloxanes having 2,4 (1a) and 5,3 (1b) dimethylsiloxane comonomer units per TNF side group differ significantly in their phase behaviour as evident from optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray scattering: 1b shows a nematic mesophase whereas 1a is an amorphous material. The different phase behaviour is discussed in terms of microphase separation between the siloxane backbone and TNF side groups.