The self-assembly in mixtures of the anionic bile salt surfactant sodium deoxycholate (NaDC) and the zwitterion-ic phospholipid 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) in physiological saline solution has been investigated using light scattering, small-angle...

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The self-assembly process in aqueous solutions of the methoxyl-poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(2-acrylamido-2methyl-1-propanesulfonic sodium)-block-poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAAM) triblock copolymer, synthesized via two different atomic transfer radical polymerization methods, namely "one-pot" (P3-sample) and "two-pot" (P2-sample), was studied by various experimental techniques. The "one-pot" procedure leads to a copolymer (P3) where the PNIPAAM block is contaminated with a minor quantity of 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonate (AMPS) residuals and this sample does not form micelles over the considered temperature region, but unimers and temperatureinduced aggregates coexist in the presence of a small amount of salt. The P2 polymer forms micelles and intermicellar structures, but the former moieties disappear at high temperatures, whereas the latter species contract with increasing temperature. Small-angle neutron scattering results revealed correlation peaks, both for P3 and P2, and no micelle formation for P3, but a pronounced upturn of the scattered intensity at low wavevector values at elevated temperatures for the P2 copolymer. The findings from this study clearly show that the spurious AMPS residuals have a drastic influence on the self-assembly and micelle formation of the triblock copolymer.