Light-tunable thermoresponsive behavior of branched polyethylenimine derivatives in water

Yeongbong Mok, Minwoo Noh, Gyu Chan Kim, Youngjun Song, Heejin Kim, Seulah Kim, Sihyeong Yi, Ji Hun Seo, Yan Lee

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    7 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Combinatorial introduction of acyl, alkylsulfonyl and azobenzene (Ab) functionalities into amine-rich branched polyethylenimine produces dual-signal-responsive polymers with both temperature- and light-responsiveness in aqueous solutions. Light-tunable L/UCST polymers were synthesized by simple introduction of acyl and Ab groups or alkylsulfonyl and Ab groups, respectively. The phase transition temperatures of the polymers were dependent upon the ratios of the functionalities and reversibly controlled by light irradiation. More than 35°C-shift of the LCST was obtained by UV-irradiation, which is the largest shift reported in water. Moreover, 19°C-shift of the UCST was obtained by UV-irradiation, which is the first UCST shift reported in polymer–water binary systems.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)37-43
    Number of pages7
    JournalPolymer
    Volume107
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2016 Dec 19

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government ( NRF-2015052185 ) and by the GAIA project ( G113-00055-3004-0 ) funded by Ministry of Environment, Korea . We thank Jong Woo Lee in WCU Department of Biophysics and Chemical Biology at Seoul National University for helpful discussions.

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

    Keywords

    • Azobenzene
    • LCST
    • Polyethylenimine
    • Stimuli-responsive polymers
    • UCST

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Organic Chemistry
    • Polymers and Plastics
    • Materials Chemistry

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