Thermoresponsive block copolymers of increasing architecture complexity: a review on structure–property relationships

Abstract

Thermogels are an exciting class of stimuli responsive materials with many promising applications ranging from the medical field to additive manufacturing. This review focuses on the structure-property relationships of thermoresponsive...

Thermo-Responsive Injectable Hydrogels Formed by Self-Assembly of Alginate-Based Heterograft Copolymers

“…Certainly, a large number of polymeric gelators have been designed so far to afford thermo-responsive injectable hydrogels [ 1 , 4 , 9 , 10 , 41 , 44 ]. In most cases, these gelators are segmented macromolecules (block copolymers) bearing associative thermo-responsive blocks in various macromolecular architectures, e.g., triblock copolymers, graft copolymers, stars, etc.…”

“…Three dimensional (3D) networks formed by hydrophilic polymers (gelators), bearing hydrophobic sticky chains and/or specific functionalities, of a large variety of macromolecular topologies (e.g., triblocks, stars, graft copolymers and/or terpolymers) have been designed and explored in aqueous media [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. These formulations, also called hydrogels, due to their high water content, have attracted the immense attention of the scientific community thanks to their potential in a vast variety of applications [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”

“…Stimuli-responsive water-soluble polymers, are polymers the chain conformation of which is abruptly changed (e.g., coil–globule transition), responding to changes in their environments such as temperature, pH, etc. This functionality has attracted the attention of polymer designers to achieve some of the aforementioned requirements (e.g., injectability) for a tailor-made gelator [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]. For instance, thermo-responsive polymers exhibiting LCST, transforming reversibly from hydrophilic (non-associative) to hydrophobic (associative) upon heating, have been incorporated as sticky building blocks to prepare thermo-responsive gelators [ 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”

Multitunable LCST and UCST Behaviors of Y-Junction-Bearing Polyacrylamides

“…Thermoresponsive polymers undergoing thermoinduced dramatic changes of chain conformations have gained increasing attention due to their unique properties and multipurpose applications. − As the temperature is below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) or above the upper critical solution temperature (UCST), thermoresponsive polymers and the solvent are miscible. Upon heating, thermally induced variations of chain conformations and supramolecular interactions occur, and polymer solutions can exhibit some differences in physical properties such as transmittance, degree of solvation of subunits, light scattering intensity, and viscosity. − Amide-containing polymers such as LCST-type poly­( N -isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and UCST-type poly­( N -acryloylglycinamide) (PNAGA) are model polymers to reveal the phase transition mechanism. PNIPAM is soluble in water at ambient temperature and becomes insoluble above 32 °C due to the phase separation resulting from the coil-to-globule transition of polymer chains .…”

Thermo- and pH-responsive poly[(diethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate)-co-(2-diisopropylamino ethyl methacrylate)] hyperbranched copolymers: self-assembly and drug-loading

“…24 Several studies report on thermoresponsive polymers characterized by a low critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. 25,26 In such cases below the LCST the polymeric system is completely miscible, with polymer chains being molecularly dissolved, whereas above the LCST partial liquid immiscibility occurs through the aggre-gation of polymeric chains as a result of the reduction of water-polymer interactions leading to the lower solubility of polymer chains. pH responsive polymeric systems are a category of responsive polymers that show changes in their conformation and aggregation state by changes in solution pH.…”