Synthetic nucleobase-containing acrylamide polymers and their applications in aqueous solutions

This thesis explores the synthesis and self-assembly of nucleobase-containing acrylamide amphiphiles and investigates their self-assembly behaviors and potential applications in aqueous solutions. In Chapter 1, the synthesis and self-assembly of block copolymers are briefly introduced. Then the effect of H-bonding interactions on self-assembly behaviours is highlighted. Finally, an overview of the synthesis, self-assembly and applications of synthetic nucleobase-containing polymers is presented. Chapter 2 investigates the effect of complementary nucleobase interactions within micellar cores on the morphologies of self-assemblies in aqueous solutions. Self-assemblies with different core sizes of thymine are fabricated and their morphological transitions with introducing complementary copolymers are studied as well. Chapter 3 systematically explores the pathway-dependent and complementary chain-selective morphological transitions of micelles with a thymine core. In addition, the complementary H-bonding within micellar cores is utilized to prepare a series of worms with different lengths and widths in aqueous media. Chapter 4 builds on the knowledge obtained in the previous Chapters. A series of mixed corona micelles are fabricated through a simple supramolecular ‘grafting-to’ approach. By introducing protein ligands and environment-sensitive fluorophores at the end of corona, the reveal and concealment of functional groups on the micelle surface through heating and cooling are investigated. Chapter 5 reveals the synergetic H-bonding and thymine photodimerization give a novel polymer fluorescent dots. A number of factors are investigated on the observed fluorescent properties, including the effect of blocking H-bonding interactions and changing the degree of core-crosslinking. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes the conclusions of Chapters 2-5 and provides some insights and outlines for the future wor