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Synthesis and self-assembly of pH-responsive amphiphilic poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(acrylic acid) copolymer

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Abstract

The pH-responsive amphiphilic poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PCL-b-PAA) copolymer was prepared by selective hydrolysis of one novel poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(methoxymethyl acrylate) (PCL-b-PMOMA) block copolymer, which was synthesized by combining ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methoxymethyl acrylate (MOMA). Selective hydrolysis of the hemiketal ester groups on the PMOMA block gave 100% deprotection without the cleavage of the PCL block. The self-assembly behavior of PCL-b-PAA was investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy, DLS and TEM. The spherical micelles were formed with the hydrophobic PCL block as the core and the hydrophilic PAA as the shell by a co-solvent evaporation method. Moreover, the size and size distribution of the micelles varied with pH value and ionic strength in aqueous solution. The cytotoxicity of the PCL-b-PAA was lower, which was confirmed by MTT assay.

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Acknowledgments

Financial supports from “Shu Guang” Project of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WD0913008, WD1014036), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20804015), and Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (200802511021) were gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Cuizhen Li, Chunhua Gu, Yan Zhang & Meidong Lang

  2. Key Laboratory of Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Fundamental Science for National Defense, East China Institute of Technology, Fuzhou, 344000, China

    Cuizhen Li

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  1. Cuizhen Li
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  2. Chunhua Gu
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  3. Yan Zhang
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Correspondence to Meidong Lang.

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Li, C., Gu, C., Zhang, Y. et al. Synthesis and self-assembly of pH-responsive amphiphilic poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(acrylic acid) copolymer. Polym. Bull. 68, 69–83 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-011-0520-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-011-0520-1

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