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Self-assembly and thermal behavior of amphiphilic di-block copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PMMA-b-PEO)

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Abstract

Two amphiphilic di-block copolymers with composition of PMMA118-b-PEO45 and PMMA25-b-PEO45 have been synthesized and characterized by NMR and FTIR spectroscopies. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of synthesized copolymers in toluene has been determined. The variation in CMC of both polymers was recorded under the influence of temperature. Interestingly, it was found that CMC decreases with increase in the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) chain length and increase in temperature. A decrease in Gibbs free of micellization (ΔGmic) energy was found in the range of (− 17.3 to − 20.4), and increase in the entropy of micellization was observed in the range of (26.4 to 29.4) mol−1 at temperature in the range from 293 to 323 K with 10 K increment, while enthalpy is independent of temperature. From thermal analysis, it was concluded that degradation temperature slightly increases as the PMMA length increases. This is probably due to difficult diffusion of thermal energy across the entangled chains of PMMA.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for providing financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Hazara University, Mansehra, 21120, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

    Imad-Ud-Din, Zia Ur Rehman, Mohsan Nawaz, Ali Bahader & Rukhsana Bibi

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Haripur, Haripur, 22620, Pakistan

    Imad Uddin

  3. Greater Bay Area Institute of Precision Medicine (Guangzhou), Fudan University, Nansha District, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, 511458, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Qudrat Ullah Khan

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

    Gareth James Price

  5. College of New Energy Science, Soochow University, Gusu District, Suzhou, 215006, China

    Tariq Bashir

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  1. Imad-Ud-Din
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Correspondence to Zia Ur Rehman or Mohsan Nawaz.

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Imad-Ud-Din, Rehman, Z.U., Nawaz, M. et al. Self-assembly and thermal behavior of amphiphilic di-block copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PMMA-b-PEO). Polym. Bull. 80, 1845–1859 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04148-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04148-8

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