Base-assisted degradable methacrylic polymer microcapsules synthesized via interfacial radical polymerization using 4,4-dimethyl-2-methylene-1,3-dioxolan-5-one (DMDL)

Abstract

Base-assisted degradable methacrylic polymer microcapsules were synthesized via interfacial radical polymerizations of oil-in-water emulsions containing 4,4-dimethyl-2-methylene-1,3-dioxolan-5-one (DMDL) as a monomer to provide degradable units in the obtained microcapsule shell. Many of the current degradable polymer microcapsules use ester linkages in the polymer backbones for degradation. The ester linkages incorporated into the polymer backbones can cause the polymers to be less stable, and the polymer microcapsules may gradually degrade hydrolytically under humidity. The DMDL units provide carbon–carbon linkages in the polymer backbones. The obtained microcapsules were stable under neutral aqueous conditions with various salts and selectively degraded under basic conditions. As a demonstration, a dye was encapsulated and was gradually released over time under basic aqueous conditions. Possible long-term storage stability under neutral aqueous conditions and selective content release under basic conditions may be advantages of the DMDL microcapsules.