Issue 1, 2012
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Self-assembly of chiral block and gradient copolymers†

Meta M. Bloksma,abcd   Stephanie Hoeppener,cd   Cécile D'Haese,e   Kristian Kempe,cd   Ulrich Mansfeld,cd   Renzo M. Paulus,bcd   Jean-François Gohy,e   Ulrich S. Schubert*bcd  and  Richard Hoogenboom*f  

* Corresponding authors

a Laboratory of Macromolecular Chemistry and Nanoscience, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

b Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), P. O. Box 902, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
E-mail: ulrich.schubert@uni-jena.de

c Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstrasse 10, Jena, Germany

d Jena Center for Soft Matter (JCSM), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstrasse 10, Jena, Germany

e Bio and Soft Matter (BSMA), Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanoscience (IMCN), Université catholique de Louvain, Place L. Pasteur 1, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

f Supramolecular Chemistry Group, Department of Organic Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S4, Ghent, Belgium
E-mail: richard.hoogenboom@ugent.be

Abstract

Chiral micelles have a high potential for targeted drug delivery or chiral separation applications. In this contribution the self-assembly of chiral amphiphilic copolymers into chiral structures was investigated. Gradient copolymers could be obtained by statistically copolymerizing the hydrophilic 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline (EtOx) with the hydrophobic chiral R-2-butyl-4-ethyl-2-oxazoline (R-BuEtOx) or racemic RS-BuEtOx monomers. Self-assembly of the gradient enantiopure copolymers was studied by both cryogenic transmission electron spectroscopy (cryo-TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealing the formation of spherical micelles in aqueous solution. Additionally, amphiphilic block copolymers were synthesized in a 1-pot-2-step manner. The type of self-assembled structure could be controlled by varying the hydrophobic to hydrophilic ratio within the block copolymer from spherical and cylindrical micelles to sheets and vesicles. When the enantiopure block was replaced by the corresponding racemic block, only spherical micelles could be observed, while the chiral block copolymers with similar hydrophobic content revealed cylindrical micelles.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembly of chiral block and gradient copolymers

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1SM06595E
Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Aug 2011
Accepted
11 Oct 2011
First published
10 Nov 2011

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 165-172

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Self-assembly of chiral block and gradient copolymers

M. M. Bloksma, S. Hoeppener, C. D'Haese, K. Kempe, U. Mansfeld, R. M. Paulus, J. Gohy, U. S. Schubert and R. Hoogenboom, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 165 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06595E

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