1 research outputs found
Amphiphilic Double-Brush Polymers Based on Itaconate Diesters
Itaconic anhydride, a biosourced
molecule, was readily transformed
to polymerizable nonionic amphiphiles of the type R-Ita-R′;
these amphiphiles carry an <i>exo</i>-chain double bond,
which upon polymerization yielded amphiphilic double-brush polymers,
especially when R and R′ are immiscible, and consequently exhibit
a tendency to self-segregate. DSC, WAXS, SAXS, and variable temperature
FT-IR studies of these amphiphilic double-brush polymers confirm the
occurrence of self-segregation followed by crystallization of the
cetyl segments; in most cases a lamellar morphology is seen wherein
the two immiscible segments form the alternating lamellae and the
polymer backbone presumably lie along their interface. C16-Ita-HEG,
which carries a hydrophobic cetyl chain and a hydrophilic heptaethylene
glycol monomethyl ether unit, forms a hydrogel upon polymerization
at concentrations above 2.5 wt %; an interesting feature of this hydrogel
is that it exhibits a reversible thermal and shear-induced transformation
to a sol, a property that could be of interest for biomedical applications