Manipulation of self-assembly behavior of copolymers via environmental change is attractive in the fabrication of smart polymeric materials. We present tunable self-assembly behavior of graft copolymers, poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate)-graft-poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate)-co-di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate] (PSBM-g-P(OEGMA-co-DEGMA)). Upon heating the aqueous solutions, the graft copolymers undergo a transition from micelles with PSBM cores to unimers (i.e., individual macromolecules) and then to reversed micelles with P(OEGMA-co-DEGMA) cores, thus demonstrating the tunability of the self-assembling through temperature change. In the presence of salt the temperature response of PSBM is eliminated, and the structure of the micelles with the P(OEGMA-co-DEGMA) core changes. Moreover, for the graft copolymer with long side chains, micelles with aggregation number ∼ 2 were formed with a PSBM core at low temperature, which is ascribed to the steric effect of the P(OEGMA-co-DEGMA) shell.

中文翻译：

---

具有LCST侧链的两性离子：可调谐的自组装

通过环境变化操纵共聚物的自组装行为在智能聚合物材料的制造中具有吸引力。我们提出了接枝共聚物，聚（磺基甜菜碱甲基丙烯酸酯）-接枝-聚[低聚（乙二醇）甲基醚甲基丙烯酸酯）-共-二（乙二醇）甲基醚甲基丙烯酸酯]（PSBM- g -P（OEGMA ）的可调自组装行为-共同-DEGMA））。加热水溶液后，接枝共聚物经历了从带有PSBM核的胶束到单体（即单个大分子）的转变，然后变为具有P（OEGMA- co-DEGMA）芯，因此证明了通过温度变化自组装的可调性。在盐的存在下，PSBM的温度响应被消除，带有P（OEGMA- co- DEGMA）核心的胶束结构发生变化。此外，对于具有长侧链的接枝共聚物，在低温下用PSBM核形成聚集数约为2的胶束，这归因于P（OEGMA- co- DEGMA）壳的空间效应。