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Transforming Frozen Self‐Assemblies of Amphiphilic Block Copolymers Into Dynamic pH‐Sensitive Micelles
Author(s) -
Dutertre Fabien,
Boyron Olivier,
Charleux Bernadette,
Chassenieux Christophe,
Colombani Olivier
Publication year - 2012
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/marc.201200078
Subject(s) - copolymer , amphiphile , micelle , dynamic light scattering , polymer chemistry , self assembly , aqueous solution , materials science , methacrylate , hydrophobic effect , chemistry , chemical engineering , polymer , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , nanoparticle , engineering
The self‐assembly in water of an amphiphilic P(nBMA 50% ‐ stat ‐DMAEMA 50% ) 100 ‐ b ‐PDMAEMA 235 diblock copolymer based on hydrophilic dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate (DMAEMA) units and hydrophobic n ‐butylmethacrylate ( n BMA) ones is reported. DMAEMA units have been incorporated into the hydrophobic block of this copolymer to moderate its hydrophobic character. Light scattering experiments revealed the formation of micelles whose apparent aggregation number varied reversibly with the ionization degree of the DMAEMA units. Incorporating hydrophilic units into the hydrophobic block of an amphiphilic block copolymer is thus a way to generate dynamic aggregates in aqueous medium. As this strategy was also successful using other types of hydrophilic units, we believe it to be universal.