Journal
MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 42, Issue 7, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/marc.202000661
Keywords
lower critical solution temperature; molecular design; thermo-responsive polymers; upper critical solution temperature
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Funding
- Natural Science Foundation of China [22075154, 21604044]
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province [LY19B040001]
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The authors reported a novel aqueous copolymerization strategy to prepare polymers with tunable upper critical solution temperature (UCST) or lower critical solution temperature (LCST) from non-responsive monomers. By simply replacing a monomer, the thermo-responsiveness of the copolymers can be converted from UCST-type to LCST-type. The cloud points of the copolymers can be rationally tuned with their monomer ratios and the condition of the solvent.
The synthesis of thermo-responsive polymers from non-responsive and water-soluble monomers has great practical advantages but significant challenges. Herein, the authors report a novel aqueous copolymerization strategy to prepare polymers with tunable upper critical solution temperature (UCST) or lower critical solution temperature (LCST) from non-responsive monomers. Acrylic acid (AAc), N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP), and acrylamide (AAm) are copolymerized in water, yielding copolymers with UCST behavior. Interestingly, by simply replacing AAm with its methylated homologue, dimethyl acrylamide (DMA), the thermo-responsiveness of the copolymers is converted into LCST-type. The cloud points of the copolymers can be tuned rationally with their monomer ratios and the condition of the solvent. The UCST property of the poly(AAc-NVP-AAm) comes from the AAc-AAm and AAc-NVP hydrogen-bonds, while the LCST property of poly(AAc-NVP-DMA) originates from the hydrophobic aggregation of AAc-NVP complex and DMA, as indicated by temperature-dependent H-1 NMR and dynamic light scattering.
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