Asymmetric Microgels with Tunable Morphologies by Assembly-Guided Polymerization of Liquid Crystalline Monomers.

ABSTRACT: Understanding and controlling the morphology of microgels is crucial for optimizing their properties and functions in diverse areas of application. The fabrication of microgels that exhibit both structural and chemical anisotropy using a template-free approach faces significant challenges. Existing approaches toward such microgels are typically limited to templating methods with low throughput. Here, an alternative bottom-up approach is developed for producing non-spherical N-vinylcaprolactam (VCL) based microgels through semi-batch precipitation polymerization, incorporating a functional comonomer with a liquid crystalline (LC) moiety. 4-methoxybenzoic acid 4-(6-acryloyloxy-hexyloxy)phenyl ester (LCM) is used as the LC comonomer. The resulting morphology of those microgels is tuned to mul

SUBMITTER: Wolter NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11840453 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature