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

We present the synthesis and further functionalization of star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol)- block -polydehydroalanine [PEG 27 - b -PDha 41 ] 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.