title: Spontaneous self-assembly of a mono-component polyimide bearing terminal hydrogen-bonding sites in a single solvent.
abstract: A unique example of macromolecular self-assembly, where a mono-component homopolyimide bearing carboxy end-groups spontaneously forms nanopartilces with novel dimple-like morphology in a single good solvent, is presented. The self-assembly process is dramatically affected by the solution concentration and the temperature. It is proposed that such an unexpected self-assembly behavior is a synergistic result of the self-complementary hydrogen bonding between carboxy end-groups and the propensity to parallel packing of polyimide chains through aromatic interactions.
authors.affiliation: College of Polymer Science and Engineering and the Key Laboratory of Polymeric Materials Engineering. Sichuan University, 610065, P. R. China. xkliu@scu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xikui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Junzhi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiang