Block and Gradient Copoly(2-oxazoline) Micelles: Strikingly Different on the Inside
Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE Jazyk angličtina Země Spojené státy americké Médium print-electronic
Typ dokumentu časopisecké články
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Herein, we provide a direct proof for differences in the micellar structure of amphiphilic diblock and gradient copolymers, thereby unambiguously demonstrating the influence of monomer distribution along the polymer chains on the micellization behavior. The internal structure of amphiphilic block and gradient co poly(2-oxazolines) based on the hydrophilic poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PMeOx) and the hydrophobic poly(2-phenyl-2-oxazoline) (PPhOx) was studied in water and water-ethanol mixtures by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), static and dynamic light scattering (SLS/DLS), and 1H NMR spectroscopy. Contrast matching SANS experiments revealed that block copolymers form micelles with a uniform density profile of the core. In contrast to popular assumption, the outer part of the core of the gradient copolymer micelles has a distinctly higher density than the middle of the core. We attribute the latter finding to back-folding of chains resulting from hydrophilic-hydrophobic interactions, leading to a new type of micelles that we refer to as micelles with a "bitterball-core" structure.
Institute of Physics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 182 21 Praha 8 Czech Republic
ISIS Facility STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell Oxford Didcot OX11 0QX United Kingdom
National Research South Ural State University Chelyabinsk 454080 Russian Federation
Physics Department Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow 119991 Russian Federation
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