Self-Assembled Aggregates of Rod-Coil Block Copolymers and Their Solubilization and Encapsulation of Fullerenes

Abstract
Amphiphilic poly(phenylquinoline)- block -polystyrene rod-coil diblock copolymers were observed to self-organize into robust, micrometer-scale, spherical, vesicular, cylindrical, and lamellar aggregates from solution. These diverse aggregate morphologies were seen at each composition, but their size scale decreased with a decreasing fraction of the rigid-rod block. Compared to coil-coil block copolymer micelles, the present aggregates are larger by about two orders of magnitude and have aggregation numbers of over 10 8 . The spherical and cylindrical aggregates have large hollow cavities. Only spherical aggregates with aggregation numbers in excess of 10 9 were formed in the presence of fullerenes (C 60 , C 70 ) in solution, resulting in the solubilization and encapsulation of over 10 10 fullerene molecules per aggregate.