This
work aims to elucidate how the branching effect of macromonomer
influences the polymerization, structural features, and solution properties
of AB
n
long-subchain hyperbranched polymers
(LHPs). Our result reveals that compared with linear AB2 macromonomers, star AB3 macromonomers result in the suppression
of chain extension, and the enhancement of macromonomer self-cyclization
during the preparation of LHPs by “click” polymerization,
due to the branching-enhanced steric hindrance effect. The combined
triple-detection SEC and stand-alone LLS studies of unfractionated
and fractionated AB3 LHPs unambiguously demonstrate their
statistically fractal nature. Namely, the intrinsic viscosity ([η])
and radius of gyration (R
g) are scaled
to the macromonomer molar mass (M
macro) and the total molar mass (M
hyper) as
[η] = K
η
,AB3
M
hyper
νM
macro
μ (ν ≃ 0.39, μ ≃
0, and K
η
,AB3 ≃
0.29 mL/g) and R
g = H
R
,AB3
M
hyper
α
M
macro
β (α ≃ 0.47, β ≃ 0, and H
R
,AB3 ≃ 3.6 × 10–2 nm). Surprisingly, [η] and R
g are
both almost independent of M
macro (μ
≃ 0 ≃ β), indicating a similar draining property
and local segment density for LHPs with different subchain lengths,
which is different from the classic AB2 systems (μ
≃ 0.3 and β ≃ 0.1). A comparison of results for
AB
n
LHPs (n = 2, 3) and
short-subchain hyperbranched systems indicates that the fractal dimensions
(f) for LHPs are generally smaller than short-subchain
systems, whereas f is not sensitive to the local
segment density or branching pattern. A combination of experimental
observation and Langevin dynamics simulation of AB
n
dendrimers and LHPs further reveals (i) the segment back-folding
phenomenon is prominent only for AB
n
(n ≥ 3) LHPs systems because it is mainly dominated
by the macromonomer branching effect, rather than the internal subchain
length, and (ii) the trend for segment interpenetration increases
remarkably as M
macro increases for both
dendrimers and LHPs. The result also indicates that the unique synergistic
effect of segment back-folding and segment interpenetration in AB3 system is the most probable reason for the observed M
macro independent solution properties. Specifically,
because of the unique synergistic effect, small macromonomer/oligomer
chains can interpenetrate more easily into hyperbranched oligomer
chains composed of longer subchains and subsequently “click”
couple with the back-folded segments in the interior space of LHPs,
which eventually could lead to a similar draining property and local
segment density for AB3 LHPs with different subchain lengths.