Poly(2-Oxazoline) Glycopolymers with Tunable LCST Behaviour
-
Kempe, Kristian; Neuwirth, Toni; Czaplewska, Justyna; Gottschaldt, Michael; Hoogenboom, Richard; Schubert, Ulrich S.
- Abstract:
- A series of thermo-responsive glyco-poly(2-oxazoline)s based on 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline and 2-(dec-9-
enyl)-2-oxazoline were prepared. To study the effect of the sugar content on the solution behavior in
water, two sets of copolymers with constant monomer-to-initiator ratios of 20 and 50 and varying
amounts of the hydrophobic alkene functionalized monomer were synthesized. The glycopolymers
were obtained by the photoaddition of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-1-thio-b-D-glycopyranose onto the double
bonds followed by deacetylation of the saccharide residues. Turbidimetry measurements of the
respective glycopolymers revealed a decreasing cloud point temperature with increasing amount of
sugar moieties, proposed to be caused by hydrogen bonding between the sugars and the polymer amide
groups, which is enabled by the flexibility of the long decyl spacer. Due to the linear relationship
between cloud point temperatures and the sugar content, the cloud points can be easily tailored for
specific applications.
- Year:
- 2011
- Type of Publication:
- Article
- Journal:
- Polymer Chemistry
- Volume:
- 2
- Pages:
- 1737 - 1743