A new series of amphiphilic diblock liquid crystalline copolymers denoted as PMA6Chol-block-PHEMA were prepared by sequential reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) and successive removal of TMS protection groups

and their chemical structures were further characterized by 1H-NMR and GPC.By means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)

thermal properties and liquid crystal phase transitions were characterized for the resultant diblock copolymers

and the presence of hydrophilic PHEMA hydrogen-bond network may be one possible reason of higher TLC-I of diblock copolymers than those of PMA6Chol homopolymers.Through nanoprecipitation in THF/water mixed solutions

the synthesized LC diblock copolymers PMA6Chol-block-PHEMA were found to self-assemble into micron-scale core-shell spherical aggregates

and the rapid kinetically trapping rigid LC PMA6Chol chains may be the reason for self-assembling microscopic spheres at ambient temperatures in THF/water mixed solutions.