Abstract
An amphiphilic polystyrene-C 60 -poly(N-isopropylacrylainide) (PS-C 60 -PNIPAAm) block copolymer was successfully prepared through atom transfer radical polymerization, demonstrating the facile approach to obtain two-armed polymer-C 60 nanohybrids, in which the C 60 molecules bond to two different polymeric arms. The chemical structures were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The PS-C 60 -PNIPAAm block copolymer exhibited self-assembly in chloroform into toroids. The self-assembly of PS-C 60 -PNIPAAm, which is usually not observed with diblock copolymers and polymer-C 60 nanohybrids, could be attributed to the selective solubility and the strong interaction between C 60 molecules. © 2008 American Chemical Society.