Telechelic
associative polymers (TAPs) can form a dynamic physical
network in water and exhibit interesting solution viscoelastic behavior.
In this work, we designed and prepared two benzophenone (BP) end-functionalized
poly(ethylene glycol) TAPs (BPC
n
TAPs, n = 6, 10) by the efficient CuAAC click reaction of alkyne-modified
BP and azide end-capped poly(ethylene glycol). BP moieties in the
two TAPs can perform typical hydrogen abstraction reactions and consequent
radical recombination under UV light irradiation in the core of micelles.
Such a light-induced BP radical recombination has significant influence
on the structure and solution dynamics of TAPs. When the polymer concentration
exceeds the percolation concentration, only BPC10TAP can
undergo in situ chain extension and even crosslinking reactions in
the core of micelles under light irradiation by the self-assembly-assisted
recombination strategy due to the slower escaping rate of stickers
from micelles. Meanwhile, the association of extended chains (high-frequency
plateau) coupling with the critical gelation behavior (low-frequency
plateau) and a sol–gel transition were observed in the BPC10TAP solution also. The chain extension and consequent gelation
behavior in bulk are usually based on the different reactivities of
functional groups, whereas the present case is based on the topology
of the dynamic network in consideration of only end-capped BP groups
in the chain. This is the first report about such a chain extension
and subsequent vulcanization-like critical gelation behavior of TAPs
in aqueous solution. The work not only provides a new approach to
understand the influence of chain topology on rheological behavior
of TAP aqueous solution but also brings new insights into the sol–gel
transition of TAPs.