Effect of Degree of Branching on the Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Hyperbranched Multiarm Copolymers

The effect of degree of branching (DB) on the self-assembly of amphiphilic hyperbranched multiarm copolymers has been reported. The hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) are highly branched macromolecules with 3D dendritic globular architecture, which have the advantages of facile one-pot fabrication, a large population of terminal functional groups, lower viscosity, and better solubility. The DB of PEHO core was controlled by changing reaction temperature from 25 to 50 °C on the step of cationic ring-opening polymerization of EHO. The copolymers can self-assemble into vesicles, wormlike micelles, and spherical micelles with the decrease in the DB. The amphiphilic hyperbranched multiarm copolymers tend to form unimolecular micelles or fibers. There are some specialties in the self-assembly of HBPs to afford the morphological complexity, and the DB dependence may be the most important.