Micellization of Polystyrene-b-Polyglycidol in Dioxane and Water/Dioxane Solutions

Abstract

In this work, the self-assembly of a series of amphiphilic polystyrene-b-polyglycidol (PS-b-PGL) diblock copolymers in dioxane and dioxane/water mixtures is presented. The PS-b-PGL have an average degree of polymerization (DP) of PS block equal to 29 units and varied degrees of polymerization for the glycidol segments with DPs of 13, 42, 69 and 117. In dioxane, amphiphilic diblock copolymers form micelles with the hydrophilic PGL placed in the core. Critical micelle concentration (CMC) was determined based on the intensity of scattered light vs. concentration. The micelle size was measured by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Also, the behaviour of the copolymer was studied in water/dioxane solutions by following the changes of scattered light intensity with the addition of water to the system. Critical water content (CWC) of the studied systems decreased as the initial PS-b-PGL concentration in dioxane increased. This process was accompanied by a decrease in the size of aggregate formed. For a given initial copolymer concentration, the size of copolymer aggregates decreased linearly with increasing the length of the PGL block

In Situ GISAXS Observation and Large Area Homogeneity Study of Slot-Die Printed PS-b-P4VP and PS-b-P4VP/FeCl3 Thin Films

“…In addition, peaks located at (166 ± 6) nm and (72 ± 3) nm are detected for the PS-b-P4VP and the PS-b-P4VP/ FeCl 3 solutions, respectively. Because the PS-b-P4VP concentration studied in the present work is well above the reported critical micelle concentration of the block copolymer, 47,48 micelles as well as their corresponding assemblies can be expected in the solution. On the basis of the contour lengths of the PS and P4VP blocks used in the present work as calculated in Table S2, the size of simple spherical micelles with a PS core and a P4VP shell would be smaller than the values detected with DLS.…”

Synthesis, Hydrophilicity and Micellization of Coil-Brush Polystyrene-b-(polyglycidol-g-polyglycidol) Copolymer—Comparison with Linear Polystyrene-b-polyglycidol

“…Scheme 2a shows synthesis of linear PS-b-PGL block copolymer, whereas Scheme 2b presents further modification of the linear diblock copolymer yielding eventually copolymer PS-b-(PGL-g-PGL). The detailed description of synthesis of the diblock PS-b-PGL copolymers was described in our previous paper [27]. The description of synthesis of PS-b-(PGL-g-PGL) is described in the Materials and Methods section.…”

“…Similar formation of micelles and micelles aggregates was observed for linear amphiphilic copolymer PS-b-PGL in water/dioxane mixtures. It was shown that morphology of obtained aggregates was dependent on water content and hydrophobic to hydrophilic balance of the blocks in copolymer [27].…”

The Role of Polymer Structure in Formation of Various Nano- and Microstructural Materials: 30 Years of Research in the Laboratory of Nano- and Microstructural Materials at the Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials PAS

“…The methods of ionic polymerization of oxiranes and oxazolines, developed in our laboratory, allowed us to obtain a series of well-defined di- and triblock amphiphilic copolymers with the general structures of AB, ABA and BAB, where A is a hydrophilic block, poly(ethylene oxide), polyglycidol or poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline), and B is a hydrophobic block made of hydrophobically substituted polyglycidol (with ethyl, n-propyl, n-butyl, n-pentyl carbamate groups or cinnamic groups), polystyrene or poly(2-phenyl-2-oxazoline) [ 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ]. The AB copolymers, where A is a hydrophilic polyglycidol block and B is a thermoresponsive PNIPAM [ 79 , 80 , 81 ] or pH-responsive poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (P4VP) block [ 82 ], were obtained using the combination of controlled anionic and radical polymerizations.…”

“…With the cooperation of the CMMS PAS in Łódź, the self-assembly of amphiphilic polystyrene-b-polyglycidol copolymers (PS-b-PGL; the same hydrophobic block length and various numbers of glycidol units in the hydrophilic block) was investigated [ 77 , 78 ]. The formation of nanostructures in water after dialysis from organic solvents (dioxane and dimethylformamide) [ 77 ] and in a dioxane/water mixture [ 78 ] was followed. The morphology of the aggregates strongly depended on the initial solvent.…”