Polymer Assembly Exploiting Three Independent Interactions

Three independent polymer/polymer complexing mechanisms were used to assemble polymer trilayers onto anionic surfaces in water. Polymer-surface and polymer-polymer attraction were driven by (1) electrostatic attraction between positive polymers bearing benzyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (BTM) groups and negative surfaces; (2) polyethylene glycol (PEG) binding to phenolic (Ph) groups; and (3) phenylboronate (PBA) binding to polyols. The approach was to prepare copolymers with the following pairs of compatible interacting groups: BTM/Ph, BTM/PEG, PBA/PEG, and PBA/Ph. The supporting surfaces were either silicon or anionic self-assembled on gold. The ultimate goal is to employ independent polymer/polymer interactions to prepare complex assemblies in a few steps.