We combine synthesis, physical experiments, and computer simulations to investigate self-assembly patterns of low-functionality telechelic star polymers (TSPs) in dilute solutions. In particular, in this work, we focus on the effect of the arm composition and length on the static and dynamic properties of TSPs, whose terminal blocks are subject to worsening solvent quality upon reducing the temperature. We find two populations, single stars and clusters, that emerge upon worsening the solvent quality of the outer block. For both types of populations, their spatial extent decreases with temperature, with the specific details (such as temperature at which the minimal size is reached) depending on the coupling between inter- and intra-molecular associations as well as their strength. The experimental results are in very good qualitative agreement with coarse-grained simulations, which offer insights into the mechanism of thermoresponsive behavior of this class of materials.

中文翻译：

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臂组成对稀溶液中低官能遥爪星形聚合物自组装的影响

我们结合合成、物理实验和计算机模拟来研究稀溶液中低功能遥爪星形聚合物 (TSP) 的自组装模式。特别是，在这项工作中，我们关注臂组成和长度对 TSP 静态和动态特性的影响，其端子块在降低温度时会导致溶剂质量变差。我们发现两个星团，单星和星团，在外部块的溶剂质量恶化时出现。对于这两种类型的种群，它们的空间范围随温度而降低，具体细节（例如达到最小尺寸的温度）取决于分子间和分子内关联之间的耦合以及它们的强度。