Synthesis and Self-Assembly of a Heteroarm Star Amphiphile with 12 Alternating Arms and a Well-Defined Core

We report on a stepwise synthesis of a heteroarm starlike amphiphile containing 12 alternating arms (six polystyrene and six poly(acrylic acid)) connected to a hexabiphenyl aromatic core. The synthesis does not involve polymerization, and only commercially available precursors are used. Most importantly, this amphiphile undergoes self-assembly into spherical and wormlike cylindrical micelles in aqueous and methanol solutions, and forms reverse 1D micellar structures in chloroform. This remarkable morphological diversity of the reported amphiphile 1 is believed to be a direct consequence of its well-defined molecular architecture.