ARCHITECTURE OF HYBRID STRUCTURES ON STAR POLYMERS FORMED BY POLYMERIZATION-INDUCED PHASE-SEPARATION

Polyisoprene (PI) star polymers with many arms formed a body-centred c ubic (BCC) structure near the overlap threshold (C) in solution. Afte r the PI stars (arm number n above about 90) revealed a superlattice o f BCC structure in vinyl monomers (methyl methacrylate, styrene and t- butyl acrylate), the hybrid structures were constructed by locking the ordered superlattice into a solid matrix by means of free radical pol ymerization of the vinyl monomers. The morphologies of the polymerizat ion-induced phase separation depended strongly on the arm number, prop agation rate of the vinyl monomers, and the addition of chain transfer or cross-linking agents. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.