title: Bioinspired assembly of functional block-copolymer nanotemplates.
abstract: A new concept on bioinspired assembly of functional diblock copolymers, capable of forming different microstructures through nucleobase-induced supramolecular interactions, has been explored. In this paper, a new series of uracil-functionalized poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-(4-vinylbenzyl uracil)s (PCL-b-PVBU) have been prepared which exhibit a high self-complementary ability in solution and solid states owing to the formation of uracil–uracil pairs by induced hierarchical self-assembly. The ordered morphologies of PCL-b-PVBU diblock copolymers changed from a lamellar, hexagonally packed cylinder to a sphere with respect to the content of the hydrogen bond segment. Moreover, we further show that the PCL segment could be easily extracted by enzymatic degradation, leading to a cylinder porous structure of long-range order, which gives a facile method for the fabrication of uracil-functionalized nanotemplates. In addition, bio-complementary PCL-b-PVBU/9-hexadecyladenine (AC16) hierarchical supramolecular complexes formed through strong cooperative hydrogen bonding between the uracil group of PVBU and the adenine group of A-C16. When the mixing ratios of PCL-b-PVBU/AC16 differ from the stoichiometric ratio, these complexes self-assemble into well-ordered lamellar and hexagonal structures; the changing morphology at different AC16 loadings reveals that the molecular structures of the PCL-b-PVBU/AC16 complexes are readily tailored.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Chemistry, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu 30050, Taiwan.
authors.forename: I-Hong
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chih-Chia
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Wei-Tsung
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: Jem-Kun
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: U-Ser
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Jeng
authors.forename: Fu-Hsiang
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Chih-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Chih-Feng
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Feng-Chih
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D011145:Polyvinyls / Q000737:chemistry*; D014498:Uracil / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011091:Polyesters; D011145:Polyvinyls; C016240:polycaprolactone; D014498:Uracil; D000225:Adenine