Preparation of micrometer-sized, monodisperse "janus" composite polymer particles having temperature-sensitive polymer brushes at half of the surface by seeded atom transfer radical polymerization

Micrometer-sized, monodisperse polystyrene (PS)/poly[methyl methacrylate-(chloromethyl)styrene] [P(MMA-CMS)] composite particles having hemispherical structure were prepared by solvent evaporation from toluene droplets containing dissolved PS and P(MMA-CMS) dispersed in aqueous solution, which had been prepared using the membrane method. The formation of hemispherical ("Janus") morphology by phase separation between the PS and the P(MMA-CMS) was confirmed by both optical and electron microscopy. Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DM) was subsequently carried out in the presence of hemispherical PS/P(MMA-CMS) composite particles in an aqueous dispersed system. After polymerization, the morphology of the particles changed from spherical to "mushroom" shape as observed by scanning electron microscopy, indicating that DM polymerized inside or on the surface of half [P(MMA-CMS) phase] of the particles. 1H NMR spectra were consistent with chloromethyl functional groups in P(MMA-CMS) operating as ATRP initiators in the DM polymerization.