| Abstract
| - In this article, we report the formation of diblock copolymer brushes on a gold surface by surface-initiated, ring-opening metathesis polymerization (SI-ROMP) with the newly developed ruthenium catalyst [(H2IMes)(3-Br-py)2(Cl)2RuCHPh]. Taking advantage of the highly improved activity of the ruthenium catalyst and the rapid initiationstep of ROMP, we successfully formed thin films of well-defined block copolymers with 5-norbornene-2-endo,3-endo-dimethanol and norbornene carboxylic acid methyl esters (44:56 endo/exo). The catalyst was found to be activeenough to polymerize endo isomers of norbonene derivatives from the surface as well as to form diblock copolymerbrushes. SI-ROMP of diblock copolymers from the surface was confirmed by ellipsometry, infrared spectroscopy,and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. After the formation, the polymer-grafted substrates were immersed in varioussolvents, and the selective swelling characteristics of polymer brushes were investigated by atomic force microscopy.
|
