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Novel amphiphilic A2B2 type miktoarm star polymer with disulfide bonds based on PEG and PCL: micellization study

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Abstract

A diazidohydrin prepared from diglycidyl ether of ethylene glycol was used as a tetrafunctional core to prepare amphiphilic A2B2 type miktoarm star copolymer based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polycaprolactone (PCL). Presynthesized carboxyl-terminated poly (oxyethylene) hydrophilic arms having disulfide linkages as well as yne-terminated poly(oxy-1-oxohexamethylene) hydrophobic arms were connected to the core molecules via esterification and cycloaddition reactions, respectively. The structures obtained were verified by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques. The (PEG)2–(PCL)2 amphiphiles self-assemble to micelles at the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 8.2 × 10–3 mg/mL. Interconnected masses of the nano-sized micelles were clearly distinguishable in the field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) image. Also, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the micelles were evenly distributed in aqueous solution as spherical particles with an average diameter of < 50 nm. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements displayed a sharp unimodal distribution of micelles with an average hydrodynamic diameter of DH = 25 nm and a narrow polydispersity index of PDI = 0.55.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the School of Chemistry and Research Council of Damghan University for financial support of this research.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, Damghan University, Damghan, 36716-41167, Iran

    Abbas Rezaei & Hossein Behniafar

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  1. Abbas Rezaei
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  2. Hossein Behniafar
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Correspondence to Hossein Behniafar.

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Rezaei, A., Behniafar, H. Novel amphiphilic A2B2 type miktoarm star polymer with disulfide bonds based on PEG and PCL: micellization study. Polym. Bull. 80, 10249–10261 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04564-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04564-w

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