Structures and Chiroptical Properties of Thermoresponsive Block Copolymers Containing L‐Proline Moieties

Amino acid-based block copolymers containing poly(A-Pro-OMe) have been synthesized by RAFT polymerization using the dithioester-terminated poly(DMA) as a macro-CTA. An amphiphilic block copolymer composed of polystyrene as a hydrophobic segment and poly(A-Pro-OMe) as a hydrophilic segment was also prepared using polystyrene as the macro-CTA. The chiroptical properties of the block copolymer, poly(DMA)-block-poly(A-Pro-OMe), was evaluated by specific rotation, CD, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The assembled structure of the block copolymer on a mica surface was characterized by SFM. Thermally induced phase separations of the random and block copolymers were also studied in aqueous solution.