An (aniline oligomer-b-polyethylene glycol)3 star-shaped rod-coil block copolymer was designed

in which aniline oligomer possesses electrochromic property and polyethylene glycol (PEG) has ion conductive property.This star-shaped rod-coil block copolymer could be used in electrochromic devices

which would be much more compatible and processable compared with traditional electrochromic devices fabricated by polyaniline and PEG separately.Three synthetic strategies

that is

oxidative coupling strategy A

arm-first condensation strategy B

and core-first condensation strategy C

were designed to obtain (aniline oligomer-b-PEG)3 star-shaped rod-coil block copolymer.All related products prepared by the three strategies were characterized using FTIR

1H-NMR and MALDI-MS.The advantage and disadvantage of strategies A and B were discussed as well.And it was found that strategy C was a simple and efficient method for synthesizing the ideal (aniline oligomer-b-PEG)3 star-shaped rod-coil block copolymer.In strategy C

trimesoyl chloride was firstly reacted with amino/carboxyl-capped tetraaniline via an acylation reaction to give mono-dispersed star-shaped intermediate M03

which was then reacted with poly(ethylene glycol methyl ether) via polycondensation to give (tetraaniline-b-PEG)3 star-shaped rod-coil block copolymer (S03).The results suggested that ideal (tetraaniline-b-PEG)3 product was synthesized successfully based on the synthetic strategy C.