In situ and real-time observation of living anionic polymerization process and polymerization-induced self-assembly of polyisoprene-b-polystyrene-d8

Zhao, Y.; Miyamoto, Nobuyoshi*; Koizumi, Satoshi; Hashimoto, Takeji

In-situ and real-time observation of simultaneous living anionic polymerization process of isoprene (I) and styrene-d8 (S) in benzene-d6 as a solvent with sec-buthyllithium as an initiator into polyisoprene-block-polystyrene-d8 and the polymerization-induced self-assembling structures was carried out by a combination of UV-vis spectroscopy, gel permission chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Small-angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) experiments. The results revealed three time regions with time. In region 1, Only PI blocks were growing. In region 2, PS segments were formed and tapered structures were observed. In region 3, PS blocks were growing rapidly, and polymerization-induced microphase separation was observed.