Structural characterization of glycoconjugate polystyrene in aqueous solution

Maltopentaose-carrying polystyrene was synthesized by the homopolymerizatio n of vinyl-benzyl maltopentaose amide. Resulted amphiphile polymacromonomer was dissolved in 0.1 M urea aqueous solution, and its structure was charac terized by small-angle X-ray scattering and molecular modeling. Maltopentao se-carrying polystyrene polymacromonomer was found to be represented by a m olecular bottlebrush, composed of a large helix of polystyrene backbone and maltopentaose brushes. The molecular bottlebrush seems to be distributed r andomly or many even be broken once or twice in segments with no apparent i ntersegmental spatial correlation. A large helix of polystyrene backbone is formed, by a random sequence of TT, TG, and/or TTGG.