Journal
SOFT MATTER
Volume 10, Issue 22, Pages 3984-3992Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c4sm00415a
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Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
- ERC [PISA 320372]
- EPSRC [EP/J007846/1, EP/E012949/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/J007846/1, EP/E012949/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Worm-like diblock copolymer nanoparticles comprising poly(glycerol monomethacrylate) (PGMA) as a stabilizer block and poly(2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate) (PHPMA) as a core-forming block were readily synthesized at 10% w/w solids via aqueous dispersion polymerization at 70 degrees C using Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) chemistry. On cooling to 20 degrees C, soft transparent free-standing gels are formed due to multiple inter-worm interactions. These aqueous PGMA-PHPMA diblock copolymer worms were freeze-dried, then redispersed in water with cooling to 3-5 degrees C before warming up to 20 degrees C; this protocol ensures molecular dissolution of the copolymer chains, which aids formation of a transparent aqueous gel. Rheology, SAXS and TEM studies confirm that such reconstituted gels comprise formed PGMA-PHPMA copolymer worms and they possess essentially the same physical properties determined for the original worm gels prior to freeze-drying. Such worm gel reconstitution is expected to be highly beneficial in the context of various biomedical applications, since it enables worm gels to be readily prepared using a wide range of cell growth media as the continuous aqueous phase.
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