An efficient route to synthesize thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of poly[o-aminobenzyl alcohol-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)]Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6py02188c

A new strategy to prepare thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of poly[ o -aminobenzyl alcohol- graft -poly( N -isopropylacrylamide)] [P( o ABA- g -PNIPAM)] via the grafting-through approach by combination of the RAFT polymerization and acid-catalyzed polymerization of aniline derivatives is proposed. Ascribed to the efficient acid-catalyzed polymerization, the present strategy affords the convenient synthesis of the thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of P( o ABA- g -PNIPAM). In the molecular bottlebrushes of P( o ABA- g -PNIPAM), the thermoresponsive poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) chains are densely grafted to the poly( o -aminobenzyl alcohol) backbone, which leads to strong steric repulsion among the side chains of PNIPAM and therefore retards the soluble-to-insoluble phase transition of the tethered PNIPAM chains. It is found that the soluble-to-insoluble phase transition of P( o ABA- g -PNIPAM) takes place at a higher lower critical solution temperature (LCST) than that of the linear PNIPAM counterparts, and the PNIPAM side chains in P( o ABA- g -PNIPAM) are just partly dehydrated even at the temperature above LCST, which is different from the linear PNIPAM counterparts. The thermoresponsive molecular bottlebrushes of poly[ o -aminobenzyl alcohol- graft -poly( N -isopropylacrylamide)] [P( o ABA- g -PNIPAM)] were synthesized and their characteristic thermoresponse was demonstrated.