Amphiphilic copolymers have gained a broad platform of research interest attributed to their superior self-assembly properties (globular or extended) over a broad range of pH, temperature, and ionic strength. Polyzwitterions have attracted special attention due to their hydrophilicity, charge sensitivity (net charge can be negative or positive) and coulombic attraction of the opposite charges over a range of different environments. These properties made them a widely popular material in the field of tailoring “smart” stimuli responsive systems, self-healing hydrogels, and water transport membranes. The primary focus of this work is to tailor amphiphilic-zwitterionic (A-Z) block copolymers that are mechanically robust membranes and to then correlate the effect of molecular weight, morphology and zwitterionic identity on water, and salt transport. A set of synthesized neutral Polyisoprene-b-Poly [2(Dimethylamino)ethyl Methacrylate] (PI-b-PDMAEMA) with different volume fractions of hydrophilic PDMAEMA block have been successfully synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerizations. The precursor polymers were treated with 1,3-propane sultone or β-propiolactone for post-polymerization nucleophilic ring-opening reactions to give Polyisoprene-b-Poly (sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PI-b-PSBMA) or Polyisoprene-b-Poly (carboxybetaine methacrylate) (PI-b-PCBMA) copolymers with different compositions, morphology and zwitterionic moieties. These polymers combine both stimuli responsiveness and higher hydrophilicity of zwitterionic polymers and physical conformations of amphiphilic copolymers in their water and salt transport.

Effect of chemical identity and morphology on water- and salt- transport in amphiphilic-zwitterionic copolymer membranes

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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