Title Synthesis and study of thermoresponsive amphiphilic copolymers via RAFT polymerization /
Authors Kavaliauskaitė, Marija ; Steponavičiūtė, Medeina ; Kievišaitė, Justina ; Katelnikovas, Artūras ; Klimkevičius, Vaidas
DOI 10.3390/polym14020229
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Is Part of Polymers.. Basel : MDPI. 2022, vol. 14, iss. 2, art. no. 229, p. [1-14].. eISSN 2073-4360
Keywords [eng] RAFT polymerization ; kinetics ; amphiphilic ; azeotropic ; stimuli-response copolymers ; conformational changes
Abstract [eng] Synthesis and study of well-defined thermoresponsive amphiphilic copolymers with various compositions were reported. Kinetics of the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) (co)polymerization of styrene (St) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEO5MEMA) was studied by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and 1H NMR spectroscopy, which allows calculating not only (co)polymerization parameters but also gives valuable information on RAFT (co)polymerization kinetics, process control, and chain propagation. Molecular weight Mn and dispersity Ð of the copolymers were determined by SEC with triple detection. The detailed investigation of styrene and PEO5MEMA (co)polymerization showed that both monomers prefer cross-polymerization due to their low reactivity ratios (r1 < 1, r2 < 1); therefore, the distribution of monomeric units across the copolymer chain of p(St-co-PEO5MEMA) with various compositions is almost ideally statistical or azeotropic. The thermoresponsive properties of p(St-co-PEO5MEMA) copolymers in aqueous solutions as a function of different hydrophilic/hydrophobic substituent ratios were evaluated by measuring the changes in hydrodynamic parameters under applied temperature using the dynamic light scattering method (DLS).
Published Basel : MDPI
Type Journal article
Language English
Publication date 2022
CC license CC license description