Solution Self‐Assembly Behavior of Cholesterol‐Functionalized Block Copolymers: A Comparative Study

ABSTRACT

In present work, two structurally similar cholesterol‐based block copolymers (BCPs) were designed and synthesized to investigate the effect of liquid crystalline order on the self‐assembly behavior in selective solution. The results demonstrate that the introduction of flexible spacers to the cholesterol in the side chains would exhibit a distinct liquid crystalline behavior, while side chains contain cholesterol without flexible spacers shows a totally amorphous phase. Subsequently, the solution self‐assembly experiments in 1,4‐dioxane are carried out for both BCPs. The self‐assembly study clarifies that a totally amorphous BCP improve the mobility of side chains and nanoparticle fusion are observed during aging process. In contrast, the solution self‐assembly of a BCP with liquid crystalline order forms structurally stable nanoparticles and no fusion of nanoparticles is observed. This finding provides an important experimental support for the effect of liquid crystalline order on the self‐assembly behavior in solution.