György, C., Derry, M.J., Cornel, E.J. et al. (1 more author) (2021) Synthesis of highly transparent diblock copolymer vesicles via RAFT dispersion polymerization of 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate in n-alkanes. Macromolecules, 54 (3). pp. 1159-1169. ISSN 0024-9297
Abstract
RAFT dispersion polymerization of 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate (TFEMA) is performed in n-dodecane at 90 °C using a relatively short poly(stearyl methacrylate) (PSMA) precursor and 2-cyano-2-propyl dithiobenzoate (CPDB). The growing insoluble poly(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate) (PTFEMA) block results in the formation of PSMA–PTFEMA diblock copolymer nano-objects via polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). GPC analysis indicated narrow molecular weight distributions (Mw/Mn ≤ 1.34) for all copolymers, with 19F NMR studies indicating high TFEMA conversions (≥95%) for all syntheses. A pseudo-phase diagram was constructed to enable reproducible targeting of pure spheres, worms, or vesicles by varying the target degree of polymerization of the PTFEMA block at 15–25% w/w solids. Nano-objects were characterized using dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering. Importantly, the near-identical refractive indices for PTFEMA (1.418) and n-dodecane (1.421) enable the first example of highly transparent vesicles to be prepared. The turbidity of such dispersions was examined between 20 and 90 °C. The highest transmittance (97% at 600 nm) was observed for PSMA9–PTFEMA294 vesicles (237 ± 24 nm diameter; prepared at 25% w/w solids) in n-dodecane at 20 °C. Interestingly, targeting the same diblock composition in n-hexadecane produced a vesicle dispersion with minimal turbidity at a synthesis temperature of 90 °C. This solvent enabled in situ visible absorption spectra to be recorded during the synthesis of PSMA16–PTFEMA86 spheres at 15% w/w solids, which allowed the relatively weak n→π* band at 515 nm assigned to the dithiobenzoate chain-ends to be monitored. Unfortunately, the premature loss of this RAFT chain-end occurred during the RAFT dispersion polymerization of TFEMA at 90 °C, so meaningful kinetic data could not be obtained. Furthermore, the dithiobenzoate chain-ends exhibited a λmax shift of 8 nm relative to that of the dithiobenzoate-capped PSMA9 precursor. This solvatochromatic effect suggests that the problem of thermally labile dithiobenzoate chain-ends cannot be addressed by performing the TFEMA polymerization at lower temperatures.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 American Chemical Society. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited. (http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/authorchoice_ccby_termsofuse.html) |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Mar 2021 11:55 |
Last Modified: | 08 Mar 2021 11:55 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c02646 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170930 |