Polystyrene-polyacrylate block copolymers, methods of manufacture thereof and articles comprising the same

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a block copolymer comprising a first block derived from a vinyl aromatic monomer; and a second block derived from an acrylate monomer; where a chi parameter that measures interactions between the first block and the second block is greater than or equal to about 0.05, when measured at 240° C. Disclosed herein too is a method comprising polymerizing a vinyl aromatic monomer to form a first block; and polymerizing a second block onto the first block to form a block copolymer; where the second block is derived by polymerizing an acrylate monomer; and where the block copolymer has a chi parameter of greater than or equal to about 0.05, when measured at 240° C.; where the chi parameter is a measure of interactions between the first block and the second block.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 polymerizing a vinyl aromatic monomer to form a first block; and   polymerizing a second block onto the first block to form a block copolymer; where the second block is derived by polymerizing an acrylate monomer; and where the block copolymer has a chi parameter of greater than or equal to about 0.05, when measured at 240° C.; where the chi parameter is a measure of interactions between the first block and the second block of the copolymer.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , where the first block is anionically polymerized and/or the second block is anionically polymerized. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , where the second block is sequentially polymerized onto the first block; the sequential polymerization comprising polymerizing the acrylate monomer in the presence of the first block in a single reaction vessel. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , where the first block and the second block are polymerized using a same initiator. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , where the vinyl aromatic monomer is an alkylstyrene. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , where the alkylstyrene is o-methylstyrene, p-methylstyrene, m-methylstyrene, α-methylstyrene, o-ethylstyrene, m-ethylstyrene, p-ethylstyrene, α-methyl-p-methylstyrene, 2,4-dimethylstyrene, monochlorostyrene, p-tert-butylstyrene, 4-tert-butylstyrene, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing alkylstyrenes. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , where the acrylate monomer has a structure represented by formula (1): 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         where R 1  is a hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms. 
       
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , where the acrylate monomer has a structure represented by the formula (2): 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         where R 1  is a hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms and R 2  is a C 1-10  alkyl, a C 3-10  cycloalkyl, or a C 7-10  aralkyl group. 
       
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , where the acrylate monomer has a structure that comprises at least one fluorine atom substituent, where the structure represented by the formula (3): 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         where R 1  is a hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms and R 3  is a C 2-10  fluoroalkyl group. 
       
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , where the first block is poly(4-tert-butylstyrene). 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , where the acrylate monomer is a methacrylate, an ethacrylate, a propyl acrylate, a methyl methacrylate, a methyl ethylacrylate, a methyl propylacrylate, an ethyl ethylacrylate, a methyl arylacrylate, a trifluoroethyl methacrylate, a dodecafluoroheptylmethacrylate, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing acrylate monomers. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , where the second block is polymethylmethacrylate. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , where the block copolymer comprises cylindrical and/or lamellar domains and has an interdomain spacing of less than or equal to about 25 nanometers.