Thermoresponsive polymers are ‘smart’ materials that can undergo phase transition in solution in response to temperature changes. In particular, polymers derived from sustainable sources have attracted increasing attention in recent years; however, sustainable macromolecules exhibiting controlled thermoresponsiveness are scarce. In this work, we describe a sugar-derived polymer system that displayed an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in water. The cloud point of the polymer was tunable by manipulating the fraction of protected vs. deprotected hydroxyl functionalities in the macromolecule. When copolymerized with a hydrophobic polymer [e.g. poly(butyl methacrylate)] to generate a block copolymer, micelles could be formed in aqueous solution at temperatures above the UCST of sugar block. Upon cooling to temperatures below the UCST, the copolymer aggregated and ultimately precipitated out of the solution. The transition was reversible, as micelles reformed upon heating. These thermoresponsive amphiphiles are an important addition to the library of sustainable polymers with potential applications in nanoscale catalysis, nanoseparations, and drug delivery.

Sugar-derived thermoresponsive block copolymers

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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