C60 as core of well defined hetero-star polymers

Addition of “living” polymers such, as polystyryllithium onto C60 allows the synthesis of well defined star-shaped macromolecules with a C60 core bearing six PS arms of about same length and an equal number of negative charges located on the fullerene. If these latter are used to initiate the anionic polymerization of methymethacrylate, a hetero-star consisting of a C60 core With 6 polystyrene and 2 poly(methylmethacrylate) arms is obtained. A second way to prepare hetero-stars is to react the “living” stars with functional polymers bearing at one end a reactive halide. We were able to graft 2 additional PS chains of exactly the same or different, ^ length as the 6 branches of the starting 6-branch star, producing respectively a 8 branched star or asymmetric-star.