Monday, May 19, 2008
Student Union Building, Upper (Queensborough Community College)
365

Multi-Responsive Polyelectrolyte Diblock Copolymer Micelles

Zhichen Zhu, Li Xu, and Svetlana Sukhishvili. Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ

We report on synthesis, self-assembly and response to variations of pH, temperature and ionic strength of the polyelectrolyte diblock copolymer micelles in aqueous solutions. Well defined poly[2-(dimethylamino) ethylmethacrylate –block-(N-isopropylacrylamide)] (PDMAEMA-b-PNIPAM) and poly[2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)-b- poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)] (PDEAEMA-b-PNIPAM) block copolymers with different block ratios were synthesized using atomic transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) technique in methanol solutions using BIEE/CuBr/Bpy as initiator/catalyst/ligand, respectively. Micellization of the copolymers was monitored using dynamic light scattering (DLS). In PDMAEMA-b-PNIPAM solutions with low salt concentrations and at room temperature, the copolymer was molecularly dissolved in a wide range of pH values, due to insufficient hydrophobicity of the PDMAEMA block. However, micellization of PDMAEMA-b-PNIPAM copolymers could also be induced at room temperature by salting-out the PNIPAM block in NaH2PO4 buffer. The unimer/micelle transitions were also pH-dependent, and could be observed in the temperature scale. Such transitions reflect the effect of the polycation charge density on the critical micelle concentration of the PDMAEMA-b-PNIPAM copolymers. The copolymer composition strongly affected the unimer/micelle transitions, i.e. shortening the PNIPAM block length resulted in an increase of the critical micellization pH and/or temperature. In contrast to PDMAEMA-b-PNIPAM micelles, which were stabilized by PDMAEMA corona, PDEAEMA-b-PNIPAM copolymers self-assembled into PDEAEMA/PNIPAM core/corona micelles with strongly associated PDEAEMA core, which were stable at room temperature in solutions with both low and high salt concentrations.