Synthesis of Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymer and Study of Their Self-assembly in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

This paper describes the synthesis of novel amphiphilic diblock copolymer composed of polystyrene (PS) as the hydrophobic block and Poly(N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl] methacrylamide) (PDMAPMA) as hydrophilic block by reverse-mode iodine transfer controlled radical polymerization (RITP). Initially, homopolymer based on activated monomers (styrene) was synthesized by RITP. Thereafter, amphiphilic diblock copolymer was synthesized. The diblock copolymer obtained was characterized by spectroscopic methods: FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to analyze the elemental composition. Their thermal behaviour was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Study of the self-organization in aqueous phase of the amphiphilic copolymer revealed that formation of micelles for concentrations was higher than critical aggregation concentration (CAC) which their values were determined by tensiometry. The self-assembly behaviors of this copolymer was studied in aqueous solution at different concentrations, PH and temperatures using Dynamic light scattering (DLS).