Prolate and Temperature‐Responsive Self‐Assemblies of Amphiphilic Random Copolymers with Perfluoroalkyl and Polyoxyethylene Side Chains in Solution |
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| Authors: | Elisa Martinelli Elisa Guazzelli Giancarlo Galli Mark T F Telling Giovanni Dal Poggetto Barbara Immirzi Fabio Domenici Gaio Paradossi |
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| Institution: | 1. Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy;2. STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK;3. Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;4. Istituto per i Polimeri Compositi e Biomateriali, CNR, Pozzuoli, Italy;5. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Two amphiphilic random copolymers, PEGMAx‐co‐FAy (x = 90 and 70 mol%), are synthesized by ATRP and their solutions are investigated as a function of solvent, concentration, and temperature by DLS and SANS analyses. Both copolymers self‐assemble in nanostructures by single‐chain folding in water solutions over a wide range of temperatures. The values of the DLS hydrodynamic radius and the SANS radius of gyration are found to be ≈4 nm and ≈3.4–3.7 nm, respectively. Moreover, SANS shows the self‐folded nanoassemblies to be prolated spheroids with a ratio of polar/equatorial axes of ≈5:1 for PEGMA90‐co‐FA10 and ≈2:1 for PEGMA70‐co‐FA30. On heating above a critical temperature Tc, multichain microassemblies are formed that revert back to nanoassemblies on cooling below Tc. This temperature‐responsive transition is fully and sharply reversible. |
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| Keywords: | multichain aggregates prolate nanoassembly random copolymers single‐chain self‐assembly small angle neutron scattering |
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