Polymers (Aug 2020)

Synthesis of Amphiphilic Statistical Copolymers Bearing Methoxyethyl and Phosphorylcholine Groups and Their Self-Association Behavior in Water

  • Thi Lien Nguyen,
  • Yuuki Kawata,
  • Kazuhiko Ishihara,
  • Shin-ichi Yusa

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081808
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 8
p. 1808

Abstract

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Biocompatible amphiphilic statistical copolymers P(MEA/MPCm) composed of 2-methoxyethyl acrylate (MEA) and 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) were prepared with three different mol% of the hydrophilic unit MPC (m = 6, 12 and 46 mol%). The monomer reactivity ratios of MEA (rMEA) and MPC (rMPC) were 0.53 and 2.21, respectively. The rMEA × rMPC value of 1.17 demonstrated that statistical copolymerization was successful. P(MEA/MPC12) and P(MEA/MPC46) copolymers did not undergo aggregation in water, whereas the P(MEA/MPC6) copolymer formed micelles in water with a hydrodynamic radius (Rh) of 96.9 nm and a critical aggregation concentration, which was determined using pyrene fluorescence, at 0.0082 g/L. The restricted motion of the protons in the hydrophobic MEA units in the micelles’ cores provided additional evidence of self-association in P(MEA/MPC6).

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