Two-component "Onionlike" micelles with a PPO core, a PDMAEMA shell and a PEO corona: formation and crosslinking

• Published in: Polymer international Vol. 57; no. 11; pp. 1258 - 1264
• Main Authors: Petrov, Petar, Tsvetanov, Christo B, Jérôme, Robert
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01-11-2008; Wiley
• Subjects: Applied sciences; atom transfer radical polymerization; atom transfer radical polymerization, poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate); block copolymers; Chemistry; Chimie; crosslinking; Engineering, computing & technology; Exact sciences and technology; Ingénierie, informatique & technologie; Materials science & engineering; micelle; Organic polymers; Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences; Physicochemistry of polymers; Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre; poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate); polymeric micelles; Properties and characterization; Science des matériaux & ingénierie; self-assembly in solution; Solution and gel properties; stimuli responsive micelle; Quaternization; Atom transfer polymerization; poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate); Crosslinking; polymeric micelles; crosslinking; block copolymers; atom transfer radical polymerization; Ethylene oxide copolymer; Experimental study; Crosslinked copolymer; Ethylene oxide polymer; Structure processing relationship; Organic solution; Triblock copolymer; Initiator polymer; Cyclic ether polymer; Cyclic ether copolymer; Propylene oxide polymer; Preparation; Diblock copolymer; Propylene oxide copolymer; Methacrylate copolymer; Micellar solution; Amine copolymer
• ISSN: 0959-8103; 1097-0126; 1097-0126
• DOI: 10.1002/pi.2471

BACKGROUND: Chemical or physical crosslinking of supramolecular assemblies gives them stability in a wide range of environments. Much attention is paid to multilayer (onion‐like) polymeric micelles because their functionality is higher than classic core‐shell micelles. This work reports on the formation and crosslinking of onion‐like micelles prepared by mixing two different block copolymers containing a crosslinkable poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) block.
RESULTS: Block copolymers of a crosslinkable PDMAEMA block were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization of 2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) from poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) or poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) macroinitiators. The (PDMAEMA13)‐block‐PPO69‐block‐(PDMAEMA13) triblock formed wormlike core‐shell micelles, which were converted into ellipsoidal onion‐like micelles on mixing with the PEO45‐block‐P(DMAEMA8‐co‐MMA4) diblock. Onion‐like micelles were crosslinked by quaternization of DMAEMA units.
CONCLUSION: Formation of onion‐like micelles by mixing two different AB (ABA) and B′C block copolymers and their subsequent crosslinking is a valuable approach towards stabilized supramolecular assemblies of a higher complexity and functionality than the individual constitutive components. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry