Nanospace preparation by crosslinking helical syndiotactic-poly(methacrylic acid) in acetonitrile/water after stereocomplexation

Various molecular weights of isotactic (it‐)‐poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and syndiotactic (st‐)‐poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) were used to form an it‐PMMA/st‐PMAA (1/2) stereocomplex in acetonitrile/water as a suspension. The stereocomplex was tentatively crosslinked with 1,11‐diamino‐3‐6‐9‐trioxaundecane and water soluble carbodiimide at 10, 20, and 40 mol % concentrations versus MAA unit. The it‐PMMA was extracted from the crosslinked stereocomplex under alkaline conditions, and the successive re‐incorporation of the it‐PMMA was carried out. During the extraction and re‐incorporation processes, the FTIR/ATR spectra showed the absence and generation of a peak at 860 cm−1, respectively, which was characteristic of this stereocomplex. The result of the XRD analysis also corresponded with the extraction and re‐incorporation behavior of it‐PMMA; peaks were observed at 2θ = 12 and 15°, d = 0.74 and 0.59 nm, respectively. This study showed that the nanospaces of helical st‐PMAA were available in acetonitrile/water in a suspended state using a crosslinking approach. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012 Various molecular weights of it‐poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and st‐poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) were used to form an it‐PMMA/st‐PMAA (1/2) stereocomplex in acetonitrile/water as the suspending solution. The stereocomplex was crosslinked with 1,11‐diamino‐3‐6‐9‐trioxaundecane and water soluble carbodiimide at a 10 mol % concentration. The extraction of it‐PMMA from the crosslinked stereocomplex and the successive re‐incorporation of the it‐PMMA were achieved at a moderate 20% value and was supported by FTIR/ATR and XRD analyses. The nanospace of the helical st‐PMAA was available in the acetonitrile/water suspension state using the present crosslinking approach.