Micellization and Gelation of Aqueous Solutions of a Triblock Copolymer Studied by Rheological Techniques and Scanning Calorimetry

Effects of Poloxamer Polydispersity on Micellization in Water

“…The assignment of these transitions is based on earlier studies of the same copolymer (20). The peak transition temperatures are summarized in Table 1 for different concentrations, and these were reproducible to within ±0.1…”

“…The copolymer was in some cases hexane extracted, as described elsewhere (20), in order to remove more hydrophobic contaminants, since these contaminants are known to complicate light scattering studies of unimers at low temperatures. Experiments were generally done with the unextracted sample, since no differences between extracted and unextracted samples could be observed in scanning calorimetric experiments.…”

“…Experiments were generally done with the unextracted sample, since no differences between extracted and unextracted samples could be observed in scanning calorimetric experiments. The number-average composition of the extracted sample has been determined to be (EO) 28 (PO) 48 (EO) 28 by use of 1 H and 13 C NMR (20). This composition corresponds to a 53.0% PO weight-fraction and a number-average molar mass of 5270 g/ mol.…”

“…1 H spectra were recorded on a Bruker 250-MHz instrument and the PO/EO average y/x ratios were calculated from the integrals of peaks near 1.1 and 3.5 ppm, as described elsewhere (20).…”

Synthesis and Characterization of Self-Assembling Block Copolymers Containing Bioadhesive End Groups

“…The micellization and gelation processes have been found to depend on factors such as block copolymer molecular weight, relative block sizes, solvent composition, polymer concentration, and temperature. 14,60,61 For example, increasing the length of the hydrophilic PEO blocks relative to the hydrophobic PPO block results in an increase in critical micellization temperature (cmt) and gelation temperature (T gel ). 62 The aggregation of DME-PF127 and DOPA-PF127 block copolymers into micelles at the cmt was detected using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and a dye partitioning method.…”