In recent years 2-oxazolines have received considerable attention as ligands for asymmetric catalysis,[1] and as monomers for living cationic ring opening polymerization (CROP; see figure) leading to poly(2-oxazoline)s - regarded to be pseudo-polypeptides.[2] The living nature of the CROP of 2-oxazolines leads to good control over dispersity, very high end group fidelity while variation of the monomer structures provides straightforward access to a broad range of polymer structures and properties. This synthetic versatility in combination with good biocompatibility make poly(2-oxazoline)s very interesting materials for, amongst others, biomedical applications.[3]In this study, amphiphilic gradient and block copolymers were synthesized with different ratios of poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline)s (n) and poly(2-phenyl-2-oxazoline)s (x). The micellization behavior of these polymers was studied with dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) in water and water-ethanol mixtures. To perform SANS contrast variation measurements, d3-2-methyl-2-oxazoline was synthesized and used to make similar partially deuterated amphiphilic block and gradient copolymers.[1] M. Durini, E. Russotto, O. Reiser, U. Piarulli B. Dolensky, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2012,   28, 5451. [2] T. Kagiya, S. Narisawa, T. Maeda, K. Fukui, polymer letters, 1966,  4, 441. [3] O. Sedlacek, B. D. Monnery, S.K. Filippov, R. Hoogenboom, M. Hruby, Macromol. Rapid Commun., 2012  , 33, 1648.

Micellization behavior of gradient and block copoly(2-oxazoline)s

248th National Meeting (2014)

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