Nano-Templates from Thermoresponsive Poly(ethoxytriethyleneglycol acrylate) for Polymeric Nano-Capsules

• Published in: Macromolecular symposia. Vol. 278; no. 1; pp. 89 - 95
• Main Authors: Dimitrov, Philip, Toncheva, Natalia, Weda, Pawel, Rangelov, Stanislav, Trzebicka, Barbara, Dworak, Andrzej, Tsvetanov, Christo B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley-VCH Verlag 01.04.2009; WILEY-VCH Verlag; WILEY‐VCH Verlag
• Subjects: Acrylamide; Acrylates; Aggregates; Core-shell particles; LCST; Manganese; nano-templates; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; poly(ethoxytriethyleneglycol acrylate); seeded free radical polymerization; stabilized core-shell particles
• ISSN: 1022-1360; 1521-3900
• DOI: 10.1002/masy.200950411

Temperature responsive poly(ethoxytriethyleneglycol acrylate) (PETEGA) of Mn = 8000 and Mw/Mn = 2.30 was synthesized by ATRP. Dilute aqueous solutions of PETEGA exhibit lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at around 34 °C. We found that PETEGA can form nano-sized uniform colloidal aggregates (50-200 nm) above LCST either with or without an additional surfactant. Therefore PETEGA nano-aggregates were used as templates for the seeded free radical copolymerization of acrylamides or methacrylates together with a cross-linker to form acrylamide or methacrylate based core-shell particles. The formation of the PETEGA templates was investigated by dynamic light scattering (DLS) in order to find optimal conditions for obtaining narrow dispersed aggregates of desired sub-micron dimensions. Core-shell particles were characterized by DLS and scanning electron microscopy.