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Double‐Shell Vesicles, Strings of Vesicles and Filaments Found in Crosslinked Micellar Solutions of Poly(1,2‐butadiene)‐ block ‐poly(ethylene oxide) Diblock Copolymers
Author(s) -
Maskos Michael,
Harris J. Robin
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3927(20010201)22:4<271::aid-marc271>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - vesicle , copolymer , amphiphile , ethylene oxide , materials science , micelle , aqueous solution , polymer chemistry , transmission electron microscopy , chemical engineering , chemistry , membrane , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , composite material , polymer , biochemistry , engineering
Micellar structures of amphiphilic poly(1,2‐butadiene)‐ block ‐poly(ethylene oxide) diblock copolymers have been crosslinked in aqueous solution by γ‐irradiation. By transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of negatively stained specimens it is shown that the predominant structures present are copolymer vesicles (which appear to be double‐layered). These fixed vesicles are stable with respect to their shape and can be transferred from water into a good solvent for both blocks, such as tetrahydrofuran, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of the crosslinking. In addition to the vesicles, a small number of flexible cylindrical/filamentous structures, sequentially fused vesicles/strings of vesicles and giant sheet‐like vesicles are also visible after cross‐linking. The vesicle chains seem to be formed by fusion of the double‐layered vesicles; the outer layer of the vesicles apparently fuses sequentially, whereas the inner shell remains intact, creating periodic linear thickenings.