Dimensions of a free linear polymer and polymer immobilized on silica nanoparticles of a zwitterionic polymer in aqueous solutions with various ionic strengths

The dimensions and intermolecular interactions of a surface-grafted and unbound free polyampholyte, poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC), were estimated in aqueous solutions with various ionic strengths. Free linear PMPC was synthesized by atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), and static light scattering (SLS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) were carried out for the PMPC solutions with various concentrations of NaCl, c(s). The hydrodynamic radius RH and the second virial coefficient A(2) of PMPC were independent of c(s) (0-0.5 M), though both R-H and A(2) of polyampholytes usually strongly depend on the ionic strength. PMPC-immobilized silica nanoparticles (PMPC-SiNP) were also synthesized by surface-initiated ATRP, and DLS was carried out as for the solutions of linear PMPC to investigate the dependence of the dimensions of PMPC immobilized on a solid surface on the ionic strength. The molecular weight and surface density of PMPC immobilized on SiNP were estimated from the results obtained by GPC, NMR, and thermogravimetric analysis. The independence of RH of PMPC-SiNP was also observed, but its magnitude was larger than that of linear PMPC, although the molecular weight of PMPC immobilized on SiNP was smaller than that of linear PMPC. The larger dimension of PMPC immobilized on SiNP was explained by the excluded volume effect between the immobilized polymer chains.