High-throughput physicochemical analysis of thermoresponsive polymers

Abstract

Calculating the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of a thermoresponsive polymer is an important measure of its physical properties. Here, the LCST of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) was determined by measuring the scattered light intensity in a real-time thermocycler. This method allowed for the investigation of low concentration (μg mL⁻¹) samples in low volumes (μL). Subsequently, the critical micelle temperatures (CMTs) and concentrations (CMCs) were simultaneously recorded in 2 h for over 220 samples of the thermoresponsive copolymers of NIPAM with N-hydroxymethyl acrylamide (HMAM) (pNIPAM-co-HMAM (2.5–12.5 mol% HMAM)). This high-throughput approach paves the way to rapidly ‘map’ the physicochemical properties of low abundance polymers with statistical accuracy.