Over the past decade, some (rare) examples of block copolymers with supramolecular links between the building blocks have been described. Because the association between macromolecular blocks is a reversible process, such polymers are of great interest in the field of nanostructured materials, self-healing materials, or processing aid. The main goal of this work is to develop new supramolecular architectures, by a combination of RAFT polymerization and H-bonding. In a first step, several chain transfer agents and a radical initiator possessing complementary thymine or diaminopyridine H-bonding moeties were synthesized. These precursors were used to generate a panel of polymers α- or α,ω-functionalized with these H-bonding stickers in a quantitative manner. The self-assembly of the resulting polymer blocks was highlighted by 1H NMR, AFM and rheological measurements. This approach was subsequently adapted to the development of hydrophilic supramolecular comb-shaped polymers, based on the β-cyclodextrin/adamantane host/guest complexation.
