Biobased block copolymers utilizing biosynthetic oligocellulose

Material research needs to develop environmentally sustainable ways to fabricate and utilize fossil fuel-based plastics with a sustainable materials design, durable properties and benefit from biobased resources. Synthetic block copolymers (BCPs) in nanoplastics design are an elegant route to high tech plastic materials where variety of properties and features sought for, are added in a single building block.
High χ- low N BCPs have demonstrated enhanced self-assembly for advanced materials technology needs. Oligomeric sugar blocks effectively increase the polymer –polymer interaction parameter without large number of repeating units (N) and can demonstrate self-assembled BCP structures below 10 nm size. We use biosynthetically and eco-friendly produced well-defined oligocellulose and synthetic polymer blocks (for example polystyrene, polyisoprene and oligo ethylene glycol) for biobased BCP model compound preparation. Firstly, the fabrication process involves a synthetic polymer block end and oligocellulose reducing end functionalization. Secondly, the combination of such immiscible properties is realized with copper catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) click reaction. Di/Tri BCP architecture comparison is demonstrated for enhanced BCP processing and liquid crystalline properties studied to aid in material processing.