Deconstructing poloxamer and poloxamine block copolymers to access poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(propylene oxide)-based thermoresponsive polymers

Jeonghui Hong, Junki Oh, Anzar Khan

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Poloxamer (Pluronic®) and poloxamine (Tetronic®) are commercially important block copolymers composed of polypropylene oxide (PPO) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) segments. Due to the difference in chemical polarity of the two blocks, the copolymers exhibit amphiphilicity and thermally induced aggregation behavior in aqueous solutions. The present work shows that block copolymer architecture is not necessary to achieve an amphiphilic character in PPO and PEG-based polymers. Instead a simple molecular tweaking by adding a very short hydrophilic or hydrophobic side-chain allows for attaining amphiphilicity and consequential thermoresponsiveness in PEG and PPO-rich polymers.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)472-478
    Number of pages7
    JournalJournal of Macromolecular Science, Part A: Pure and Applied Chemistry
    Volume57
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020 Jun 2

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was funded by National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (NRF-18R1D1A1B07048527).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2020, © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

    Copyright:
    Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

    Keywords

    • Amine-epoxy reaction
    • amphiphilic polymers
    • poly(ß-hydroxyl amine)s
    • thermoresponsive polymers
    • “click” polymerization

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Ceramics and Composites
    • General Chemistry
    • Polymers and Plastics
    • Materials Chemistry

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