Mechanism of Molecular Exchange in Diblock Copolymer Micelles: Hypersensitivity to Core Chain Length

Soo-Hyung Choi, Timothy P. Lodge, and Frank S. Bates

Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 047802 – Published 29 January 2010

Abstract

Molecular exchange between spherical micelles formed from isotopically labeled diblock copolymers was investigated using time-resolved small-angle neutron scattering measurements. Temperature changes affect the micelle exchange rate $R (t)$ consistent with melt dynamics for the core polymer. Varying the core block length $N$ produces gigantic changes in $R (t)$ due to the thermodynamic penalty associated with ejecting a core block into the surrounding solvent. This hypersensitivity, combined with modest polydispersity in $N$ , leads to an approximately logarithmic $R (t)$ .

Received 15 June 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.047802

Authors & Affiliations

Soo-Hyung Choi¹, Timothy P. Lodge^1,2,*, and Frank S. Bates^1,†

¹Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
²Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

^*Corresponding author. lodge@umn.edu
^†Corresponding author. bates@cems.umn.edu

Erratum: Logarithmic Chain-Exchange Kinetics of Diblock Copolymer Micelles [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 068302 (2006)]

Reidar Lund, Lutz Willner, Jörg Stellbrink, Peter Lindner, and Dieter Richter

Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 049902 (2010)

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Vol. 104, Iss. 4 — 29 January 2010

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