Synthesis and physicochemical characterization of a well-defined poly(butadiene 1,3)-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane) copolymer

For the first time, order–order and order–disorder transitions were detected and characterized in a model diblock copolymer of poly(butadiene-1,3) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PB-b-PDMS). This model PB-b-PDMS copolymer was synthesized by the sequential anionic polymerization (high vacuum techniques) of butadiene 1,3 (B) and hexamethylciclotrisiloxane (D3), and subsequently characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Small-Angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and rheology. SAXS combined with rheological experiments shows that the order–order and order–disorder transitions are thermoreversible. This fact indicates that the copolymer has sufficient mobility at the timescale and at the temperatures of interest to reach their equilibrium morphologies.