Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) brush-arm star polymers (BASPs) with narrow mass distributions and tunable nanoscopic sizes are synthesized in via ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of a PEG-norbornene macromonomer followed by transfer of portions of the resulting living brush initiator to vials containing varied amounts of a rigid, photo-cleavable bis-norbornene crosslinker.
Liu, J., Gao, A. X., Johnson, J. A. Particles without a Box: Brush-first Synthesis of Photodegradable PEG Star Polymers under Ambient Conditions. J. Vis. Exp. (80), e50874, doi:10.3791/50874 (2013).