Melt morphology of polystyrene-poly(ethylene oxide) metallo-supramolecular diblock copolymer

Using SAXS, the melt morphol. of a polystyrene-poly(ethylene oxide) metallo-supramol. diblock copolymer, which is prepd. by coupling terpyridine-terminated polyethylene oxide and terpyridine-terminated polystyrene with RuCl3, is studied, and the presence of the the metal-ligand complex (MLC) in the mol. chain leads to a different morphol. and drives the mol. to form spherical aggregates. The aggregate has a core radius of 1.5 nm surrounded by a polymer shell with an out radius of approx. 2.4 nm, and the size of the aggregate decreases with temp. and affects by the crystn. of the polyethylene oxide block. [on SciFinder (R)]