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 …