Synthesis and post-polymerization modification of star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol)-block-polydehydroalanine block copolymers: a versatile template for designing multifunctional polymers

Abstract

We present the synthesis and further functionalization of star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol)-block-polydehydroalanine [PEG₂₇-b-PDha₄₁]₄, a double hydrophilic block copolymer featuring a polyampholytic PDha segment. In particular, the latter offers the possibility of additional functionalisation via simple chemical modifications. In that way, we demonstrate easy access to multi-responsive star-shaped graft copolymers and we show this in more detail for two selected examples: (1) grafting of N-isopropylacrylamide (NiPAAm) leads to temperature-responsive star-shaped graft copolymers and (2) grafting of aminoazobenzene–acrylamide (AzoAAm) to light-responsive star-shaped graft copolymers.