X-Ray Scattering Studies on Molecular Structures of Star and Dendritic Polymers

• Published in: Macromolecular research Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 686 - 694
• Main Authors: Jin, Sang-Woo, Jin, Kyeong-Sik, Yoon, Jin-Hwan, Heo, Kyu-Young, Kim, Je-Han, Kim, Kwang-Woo, Ree, Moon-Hor, Higashihara, Tomoya, Watanabe, Takumi, Hirao, Akira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 한국고분자학회 01.12.2008
• Subjects: 고분자공학; theta solvent condition; good solvent condition; 3^{rd}$-generation dendrimer-like star-branched poly(methyl methacrylate)s; 33-armed star polystyrene; small angle X-ray scattering; molecular shape; internal chain structure
• ISSN: 1598-5032; 2092-7673

We studied the molecular shapes and structural characteristics of a 33-armed, star polystyrene (PS-33A) and two $3^{rd}$-generation, dendrimer-like, star-branched poly(methyl methacrylate)s with different architectures (pMMA-G3a and PMMA-3Gb) and 32 end-branches under good solvent and theta ($\Theta$) solvent conditions by using synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The SAXS analyses were used to determine the structural details of the star PS and dendrimer-like, star-branched PMMA polymers. PS-33A had a fuzzy-spherical shape, whereas PMMA-G3a and PMMA-G3b had fuzzy-ellipsoidal shapes of similar size, despite their different chemical architectures. The star PS polymer's arms were more extended than those of linear polystyrene. Furthermore, the branches of the dendrimer-like, star-branched polymers were more extended than those of the star PS polymer, despite having almost the same number of branches as PS-33A. The differences between the internal chain structures of these materials was attributed to their different chemical architectures.