This thesis explores the synthesis of nucleobase-containing polymers by both reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and RAFT dispersion polymerization. In addition, self-assembly behavior of nucleobase-containing polymers is also described. Chapter 1 introduces main concepts and techniques used in this thesis. In addition, the study of nucleobase-containing materials is reviewed. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis of nucleobase-containing monomers and the use of RAFT polymerization to prepare nucleobase-containing homopolymers and copolymers. Moreover, the effect of nucleobase-interactions on the resultant copolymer composition was investigated in chloroform and DMF. Chapter 3 investigates RAFT dispersion polymerization of adenine-containing methacrylate monomer and a 1:1 mixture of adenine-containing and thymine-containing methacrylate monomers in both chloroform and 1,4-dioxane. Nucleobase-containing polymers with relatively good control were obtained and a range of nanostructures were observed that were solvent dependent. Chapter 4 investigates RAFT dispersion polymerization of a thymine-containing methacrylate monomer, which displayed different self-assembly behavior to the observations in Chapter 3. A range of parameters affecting the resultant morphologies was additionally studied. Chapter 5 investigates the self-assembly behavior of nucleobase-containing polymers in aqueous solution mainly using a solvent-switch method. Chapter 6 provides a summary of the key findings of Chapters 2 – 5 and outlines the further work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:655613 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Kang, Yan |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/68764/ |
Page generated in 0.0014 seconds