Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 12: Poster 1

CPP 12.32: Poster

Monday, September 5, 2022, 18:00–20:00, P1

Effect of architecture in thermoresponsive methacrylate terpolymers based on PEG analogues — •Feifei Zheng¹, Eirini Melampianaki¹, Wenqi Xu¹, Anna P. Constantinou², Theoni K. Georgiou², and Christine M. Papadakis¹ — ¹Physics Department, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany — ²Department of Materials, Imperial College, London, England

The LCST polymers have attracted great interest for the biomedical sectors, as they have the advantage of being water-soluble at room temperature, while they can form a gel at body temperature [1]. Here, we address the effect of polymer architecture of poly(ethylene glycol) based thermoresponsive terpolymers featuring A, B and C blocks. These consist of the hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (OEGMA300, A), hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate (B), and thermoresponsive di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (C). Several architectures have been synthesised via group transfer polymerisation, varying from statistical, to gradient to block structures. The results from dynamic light scattering indicate that the BABC tetrablock terpolymer and ABC gradient polymer form smaller micelles than ABC triblock terpolymer. This difference points to the importance of the exposed OEGMA300 block for micelle stabilization: bending it back in the BABC architecture enhances the effect of the thermoresponsive block on the thermal behavior.

[1] A. P. Constantinou, B. Zhan et al., Macromolecules, 2021, 54, 1943.