Ulmas E. Zhumaev

We report about aqueous self-assembly of binary mixtures of poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polycaprolactone-block-poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PEO-b-PCL-b-PMOXA) triblock copolymers containing identical PEO (45 units) and different PCL (48–153 units) and PMOXA (3–25 units) block lengths. All mixtures targeted a certain triblock copolymer; that is, mixtures had the same average block lengths as the targeted polymer.

We report aqueous self-assembly of linear amphiphilic triblock copolymers poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polycaprolactone-block-poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PEO-b-PCL-b-PMOXA) and their PEO-b-PCL precursors with different PCL and PMOXA block lengths using three preparation methods: film rehydration, solvent evaporation, and cosolvent. For PEO-b-PCL, the self-assembled structures were ordinary spherical particles and polymersomes.

We report a new family of amphiphilic ABC triblock copolymers: poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polycaprolactone-block-poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PEO-b-PCL-b-PMOXA). The synthesis is free of toxic reagents, well-controlled and results in polymers with ? < 1.25 and PMOXA length up to 25 units (2 kDa). We compare the self-assembly of PEO-b-PCL-b-PMOXA with PEO-b-PCL depending on PCL length and hydrophilic weight fraction (f) using the film rehydration method.