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Direct Synthesis of Polymer Vesicles on the Hundred‐Nanometer‐and‐Beyond Scale Using Chemical Oscillations
Author(s) -
Bastakoti Bishnu Prasad,
Guragain Sudhina,
PerezMercader Juan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201801633
Subject(s) - chain transfer , raft , micelle , polymerization , copolymer , ethylene glycol , polymer chemistry , acrylate , vesicle , reversible addition−fragmentation chain transfer polymerization , polyethylene glycol , polymer , chemistry , dispersion polymerization , ethyl acrylate , polymersome , chemical engineering , aqueous solution , radical polymerization , organic chemistry , membrane , amphiphile , biochemistry , engineering
Abstract The direct synthesis of block copolymer vesicles on the scale of tens to hundreds of nanometers using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization as an effect of chemical oscillations is reported. RAFT polymerization is successfully accomplished between polyethylene glycol containing a RAFT agent (PEG‐CTA) and ethyl acrylate monomer in the presence of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (B‐Z) reaction in oscillatory mode. The self‐assembly of poly(ethylene glycol)‐ b ‐poly(ethyl acrylate) unimers gives rise to spherical micelles. The self‐assembled micelles reorganize and transform to vesicles. All the chemistry of polymerization, self‐assembly and self‐organization, of macromolecules takes place in a single pot using only a few simple raw materials in aqueous solution.