Effect of degree of substitution on the microphase separation and mechanical properties of cellooligosaccharide acetate-based elastomers.

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) have long been used in a wide range of industries. However, most existing TPEs are petroleum-derived polymers. To realize environmentally benign alternatives to conventional TPEs, cellulose acetate is a promising TPE hard segment because of its sufficient mechanical properties, availability from renewable sources, and biodegradability in natural environments.

Fabrication of Ultrafine, Highly Ordered Nanostructures Using Carbohydrate-Inorganic Hybrid Block Copolymers.

Block copolymers (BCPs) have garnered considerable interest due to their ability to form microphase-separated structures suitable for nanofabrication. For these applications, it is critical to achieve both sufficient etch selectivity and a small domain size. To meet both requirements concurrently, we propose the use of oligosaccharide and oligodimethylsiloxane as hydrophilic and etch-resistant hydrophobic inorganic blocks, respectively, to build up a novel BCP system, i.

Highly asymmetric lamellar nanostructures from nanoparticle-linear hybrid block copolymers.

The highly asymmetric lamellar (A-LAM) nanostructure is one of the most important template geometries for block copolymer (BCP) lithography. However, A-LAM is unattainable from conventional BCPs, and there is no general molecular design strategy for A-LAM-forming BCP. Herein, a nanoparticle-linear hybrid BCP system is reported, which is designed based on the intramolecular crosslinking technique, as a remarkably effective platform to obtain the A-LAM morphology.

Downsizing feature of microphase-separated structures intramolecular crosslinking of block copolymers.

A novel strategy for downsizing the feature of microphase-separated structures was developed the intramolecular crosslinking reaction of block copolymers (BCPs) without changing the molecular weight. A series of BCPs consisting of poly[styrene--(-3-butenyl styrene)] and poly(-lactide) (SBS-LA) was subjected to Ru-catalyzed olefin metathesis under highly diluted conditions to produce intramolecularly crosslinked BCPs (SBS()-LAs). Small-angle X-ray scattering measurement and transmission electron microscopy observation of the SBS()-LAs revealed feature size reduction in lamellar (LAM) and hexagonally close-packed cylinder (HEX) structures in the bulk state, which was surely due to the restricted chain dimensions of the intramolecularly crosslinked SBS block.