Curvature-coupled hydration of Semicrystalline Polymer Amphiphiles yields flexible Worm Micelles but favors rigid Vesicles: polycaprolactone-based block copolymers.

ABSTRACT: Crystallization processes are in general sensitive to detailed conditions, but our present understanding of underlying mechanisms is insufficient. A crystallizable chain within a diblock copolymer assembly is expected to couple curvature to crystallization and thereby impact rigidity as well as preferred morphology, but the effects on dispersed phases have remained unclear. The hydrophobic polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) is semi-crystalline in bulk (T(m) = 60°C) and is shown here to generate flexible worm micelles or rigid vesicles in water from several dozen polyethyleneoxide-based diblocks (PEO-PCL). Despite the fact that `worms' have a mean curvature between that of vesicles and spherical micelles, `worms' are seen only within a narrow, process-dependent wedge of morphological phase spac

SUBMITTER: Rajagopal K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3075012 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature