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Physicochemical and emulsifying properties of “extended” triblock copolymers

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Abstract

Two series of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polylactide-b-poly(ε-caprolactone) (MPEG-PLA-PCL) triblock copolymers with similar end-blocks (MPEG and PCL) lengths but varying mid-block (PLA) lengths were prepared by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) method and characterized by 1H NMR and GPC. The influence of mid-block length of these obtained copolymers on their surface activity, aggregation behavior, and emulsifying properties was investigated. When short PLA chain was inserted into the MPEG-PCL diblock copolymers, the formed triblock copolymers offer the advantage over the corresponding diblock copolymers. They allow higher solubility, faster interfacial adsorption, tighter micelle molecular packing, slightly larger micelle size, and higher emulsifying volume. When PLA chain was long, however, the triblock copolymers exhibited different properties due to the hydrophobicity of the chain. PLA chain length does not significantly affect the equilibrium surface tension. The findings based on this study not only demonstrate the important role of an inserted block with intermediate hydrophobicity on the physicochemical and emulsifying properties of block copolymers but also emphasize the impact of the chain length on these properties.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support for this work from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (20973036, 21303013), Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (13ZR1450900), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (12D10521, 14D110510).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

    Xia Dong, Wei Zhang, Qiuyan Zong, Qiong Liu & Jinxin He

  2. Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China

    Jinxin He

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  1. Xia Dong
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  2. Wei Zhang
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  3. Qiuyan Zong
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  4. Qiong Liu
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Correspondence to Jinxin He.

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Dong, X., Zhang, W., Zong, Q. et al. Physicochemical and emulsifying properties of “extended” triblock copolymers. Colloid Polym Sci 293, 369–379 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-014-3420-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-014-3420-8

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