Self-Assembly of Dendronized Polymers

The gradual rigidification of a single dendronized chain upon increasing the size and density of the dendron units attached to it is studied using a Monte Carlo simulation. The dependence of the backbone flexibility on the size and density of the dendrons is used as an input to study the self-assembly of dendronized polymers using a real space, self-consistent field theoretic method. These calculations predict different phases in melts and solutions, ranging from lamellar to gyroid phases, depending upon various physical (temperature, concentration) and architectural (relative volume fraction of the backbone and the dendron units) parameters.