Open AccessSynthesis, physicochemical characterization, and self‐assembly of linear, dibranched, and miktoarm semifluorinated triphilic polymers
Author(s) -
Tucker William B.,
McCoy Aaron M.,
Fix Samantha M.,
Stagg Melissa F.,
Murphy Matt M.,
Mecozzi Sandro
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of polymer science part a: polymer chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.768
H-Index - 152
eISSN - 1099-0518
pISSN - 0887-624X
DOI - 10.1002/pola.27394
Subject(s) - microviscosity , amphiphile , fluorocarbon , chemistry , polymer , polymer chemistry , pulmonary surfactant , aqueous solution , organic chemistry , chemical engineering , copolymer , membrane , biochemistry , engineering
Linear, dibranched, and miktoarm amphiphiles containing both hydrophobic and fluorophilic moieties were synthesized and characterized in an attempt to elucidate the relationship between semifluorinated amphiphile structure and aggregate behavior in aqueous solution. For the linear and dibranched amphiphiles, there was an exponential decrease in critical aggregation concentration (CMC) and a logarithmic increase in core microviscosity with increasing length of the fluorocarbon segments; while the miktoarm architecture produced no notable trend in microviscosity or CMC. Furthermore, the linear and dibranched surfactants showed enhanced kinetic stability, dissociating more slowly in the presence of human serum than did either the dibranched or miktoarm amphiphiles. Finally, encapsulation studies with the hydrophobic drug paclitaxel (PTX) showed that the ability to solubilize and retain PTX increased with the presence and with the increasing size of the fluorocarbon moiety for both the linear and dibranched amphiphiles, while no such trend was observed for the miktoarm amphiphiles. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52 , 3324–3336