Correction: Synthesis and solution behaviour of dual light- and temperature-responsive poly(triethylene glycol-co-spiropyran) copolymers and block copolymers

Abstract

Correction for ‘Synthesis and solution behaviour of dual light- and temperature-responsive poly(triethylene glycol-co-spiropyran) copolymers and block copolymers’ by Oliver Grimm et al., Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 2674–2685.

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The authors regret the errors in Schemes 1 and 2 in the original manuscript regarding the structure of the NMP initiator. The corrected Schemes 1 and 2 are shown below.

Scheme 1 Synthesis of P(TEGA-co-SPA) in 1,4-dioxane using BlocBuilder-MA as initiator.

Scheme 2 Copolymerisation of TEGA and SPA in various combinations using a previously synthesized PS macroinitiator.

Furthermore, the authors would like to clarify the SEC analysis in the footnote for Table 1 and the caption for Fig. 2.

Footnote for Table 1:

^a300 MHz ¹H-NMR in CDCl₃; ^bTriple THF-SEC, MALLS-triple detection.

Caption for Fig. 2:

THF-SEC elution traces of the PS macroinitiator in comparison to the diblock terpolymers containing between 0 and 15% SPA in the monomer mixture (A). Number-weighted hydrodynamic radius of the diblock terpolymer micelles in pH 8 buffer solution (C); cryo-TEM micrographs of aggregates formed from the diblock copolymers: PS₄₅₆-b-PTEGA₃₃₀ (B) and Ps₄₅₆-b-P(TEGA₁₉₆-co-SPA₁₆) (D).

To avoid any confusion, the authors would also like to add a short statement in the Experimental part concerning which type of THF-SEC setup was used in which case of analysis:

Experimental part

The triple detection size exclusion chromatography in tetrahydrofuran (triple THF-SEC) used for the determination of the molecular weight of the copolymers was performed on a Shimadzu system consisting of a controller (CBM-20A), a degasser (DGU-14A), a pump (LC-10AD vp), an oven (CTO-10A vp) at 40 °C, and four detectors: UV (SPD-10AD VP), RI (RID-10A), viscosity (PSS ETA-2010), and multi angle light scattering (PSS SLD 7000; λ = 660 nm). The system operates with THF as eluent at a flow rate of 1 mL min⁻¹. The columns were PSS SDV guard/linear M calibrated with polystyrene, poly (methyl methacrylate), polyethylene glycol and polylactide standards in a molecular weight range of approximately 400–1 000 000 g mol⁻¹.

Size exclusion chromatography in tetrahydrofuran (THF-SEC) used for the determination of the molecular weight of the diblock terpolymers was performed on an Agilent 1260 system equipped with a G1330B pump, a PSS TC6001 oven at 30 °C, a G1362A refractive index detector, and a G1315D UV detector at 365 nm. THF was used as eluent at a flow rate of 1 mL min⁻¹ on three PSS SDV guard columns (100/1000/100 000 Å). The system was calibrated with polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(ethylene glycol), and polyisoprene standards from PSS (Mainz, Germany) with a molecular weight range of 200–2 000 000 g mol⁻¹.

Finally, on page 2682, the monomer has been wrongly termed as 2-(2-(2-hydroxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl acrylate (TEGA). The correct denomination of the monomer used in this study is 2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethoxy) ethyl acrylate (TEGA). The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.

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