Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Exploration Using Reaction Temperature To Tailor The Degree Of Order In Micro-Block Copolymer Proton Exchange Membranes, John Quentin Buquoi Iii

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The ability to control the self-assembly of sulfonated poly(arylene ether) sulfones (s-PAESs) was explored by tailoring rate coefficients, via temperature, in an A₂ + B₂ + B₂' Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution (S_NAr) approach. The reactivity of various electrophilic sites were studied and tuned, via temperature control, to elicit a range of more ordered and disordered polymers of equivalent monomeric composition. These polymers were characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and found to have highly disordered polymer configuration at higher temperatures while having a more regular configuration at lower temperatures.