Issue 29, 2020

Self-assembly of amphiphilic copolymers containing polysaccharide: PISA versus nanoprecipitation, and the temperature effect

Abstract

For many decades, the self-assembly of amphiphilic copolymers containing polysaccharide, called glycopolymers, has been induced in water via nanoprecipitation, whereas the polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) approach has been less reported. Using advanced characterization techniques including static/dynamic light scattering and negative-stain/cryo TEM analyses, we studied the impact of the experimental conditions/process on the morphology of formed glyco-nanostructures. A model amphiphilic glycopolymer (Dex-g12-PHPMA400) based on dextran as hydrophilic polysaccharide backbone and poly(2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate) (PHPMA) as hydrophobic grafts was prepared in water using photo-induced RAFT polymerization at 405 nm. On the one hand, our findings revealed that photo-initiated PISA (photo-PISA) at room temperature (RT) led to a mixture of spheres with a significant population of worm-like micelles (WLM), whereas the nanoprecipitation of purified Dex-g12-PHPMA400 led only to spherical micelles. On the other hand, we demonstrate that the morphology of glyco-nanostructures is affected by temperature since performing photo-PISA at 60 °C led to spheres instead of WLM. Finally, our findings revealed that pre-synthesized WLM at RT underwent irreversibly an unusual morphological transition to spheres by heating to 60 °C.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembly of amphiphilic copolymers containing polysaccharide: PISA versus nanoprecipitation, and the temperature effect

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Mac 2020
Accepted
12 Jun 2020
First published
19 Jun 2020

Polym. Chem., 2020,11, 4729-4740

Self-assembly of amphiphilic copolymers containing polysaccharide: PISA versus nanoprecipitation, and the temperature effect

D. Ikkene, A. A. Arteni, M. Ouldali, J. Six and K. Ferji, Polym. Chem., 2020, 11, 4729 DOI: 10.1039/D0PY00407C

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