Thermo- and Photoresponsive Behaviors of Dual-Stimuli-Responsive Organogels Consisting of Homopolymers of Coumarin-Containing Methacrylate

• Published in: Polymers Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 329
• Main Authors: Okada, Seidai, Sato, Eriko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 21-01-2021
• Subjects: stimuli-responsive gel; organogel; photodimerization; lower critical solution temperature
• ISSN: 2073-4360; 2073-4360
• DOI: 10.3390/polym13030329

Coumarin-containing vinyl homopolymers, such as poly(7-methacryloyloxycoumarin) (P1a) and poly(7-(2'-methacryloyloxyethoxy)coumarin) (P1b), show a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) in chloroform, which can be controlled by the [2 + 2] photochemical cycloaddition of the coumarin moiety, and they are recognized as monofunctional dual-stimuli-responsive polymers. A single functional group of monofunctional dual-stimuli-responsive polymers responds to dual stimuli and can be introduced more uniformly and densely than those of dual-functional dual-stimuli-responsive polymers. In this study, considering a wide range of applications, organogels consisting of P1a and P1b, i.e., P1a-gel and P1b-gel, respectively, were synthesized, and their thermo- and photoresponsive behaviors in chloroform were investigated in detail. P1a-gel and P1b-gel in a swollen state (transparent) exhibited phase separation (turbid) through a temperature jump and reached a shrunken state (transparent), i.e., an equilibrium state, over time. Moreover, the equilibrium degree of swelling decreased non-linearly with increasing temperature. Furthermore, different thermoresponsive sites were photopatterned on the organogel through the photodimerization of the coumarin unit. The organogels consisting of homopolymers of coumarin-containing methacrylate exhibited unique thermo- and photoresponsivities and behaved as monofunctional dual-stimuli-responsive organogels.