Characterization of Fiber Formation of Sugar-based Poly(D-glucose carbonate) Amphiphilic Block Copolymers in Solution

Designing the new sugar-derived poly(D-glucose carbonate)s (PGC) is motivated by a need to develop sustainable materials in response to a long-term environmental impact of traditional petroleum-based polymers. Herein, the fiber assembly behavior of the PGC amphiphilic BCP with targeted block compositions, chain lengths and side chain chemistries are explored with kinetically controlled assembly pathways varying the solvent compositions. The kinetics of the fiber formation is characterized using cryogenic-TEM and SANS where we find the assembled fibers have a flat interface composed of fused disc subunits. The assembly behavior deviates from the traditional coil-based BCPs due to the inherent stiffness of the glucose backbone resulting a unique chain packing in response to a solvent quality change. To observe the relative chain behavior in the same assembly conditions, both hydrophilic and hydrophobic block equivalent homopolymers are studied using various scattering techniques to obtain polymer chain solution properties for a better understanding of the PGC block copolymer chains. These findings allow us to discover a robust fiber nanostructure that can be achieved by non-traditional polymers and their potential to be used in many engineering applications.