Synthesis of Multicompartment Nanoparticles of ABCMiktoarm Star Polymers by Seeded RAFT Dispersion Polymerization

Polymeric multicompartment nanoparticles (MCNs) of mu-ABC miktoarm star polymers composed of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA), poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA), and polystyrene (PS) were synthesized by Cu(I)-catalyzed click reaction and seeded RAFT dispersion polymerization. The synthesized MCNs have a solvophobic PBMA core with separate segregated PS microdomains and a solvophilic PDMA corona. The size and/or morphology of MCNs are correlative to the length of PDMA, PBMA, and PS segments. Ascribed to the characteristic structure, MCNs of mu-DBS can decrease interfacial tension in n-hexane/water, which is much superior to linear diblock copolymer nanoassemblies.