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Thermoresponsive polymers have shown great potential in applications such as bioseparation, drug delivery and diagnostic. Only few thermoresponsive polymers that present an upper critical solution temperature (UCST), i.e. phase separate from solution upon cooling, in a relevant temperature range have been reported so far. Moreover, the most studied UCST type polymers namely polybetaines are difficult to use under physiological conditions, which significantly restricts their potential applications. Therefore, UCST polymers with sharp and robust phase transition in physiological conditions (in the presence of salts, ions etc.) are highly needed in order to extend the range of applications of this class of polymers.
Herein, a robust UCST-type copolymer of acrylamide (AAm) and acrylonitrile (AN) (poly(AAm-co-AN)) was prepared by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization[4] and its thermo-induced aggregation behavior in aqueous media was studied. At temperature below the UCST, the copolymer chains were aggregated together. The aggregate size was found to be larger with increasing AN contents and became smaller upon dilution of the copolymer solutions. While above the UCST, the copolymer chains were expanded and weekly associated in solution. The association between the copolymer chains formed smaller aggregates with increasing the AN contents or the dilution of the solutions. A model is proposed to explain such aggregation behavior.
Combining experiments and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we study the conformational behavior of polyacrylamide (PAM) in aqueous alcohol mixtures over a wide range of temperatures. This study Shows that even when the microscopic interaction is dictated by hydrogen bonding, unlike its counterparts that present a lower critical solution temperature (LCST), PAM shows a counterintuitive tunable upper critical solution temperature (UCST)-type phase transition in water/alcohol mixtures that was not reported before. The Phase transition temperature was found to be tunable between 4 and 60 1C by the type and concentration of alcohol in the mixture as well as by the solution concentration and molecular weight of the polymer. In addition, molecular dynamics simulations confirmed a UCST-like behaviour of the PAM in aqueous alcoholic solutions.
Additionally, it was observed that the PAM is more swollen in pure alcohol solutions than in 80% alcoholic solutions due to y-like behaviour. Additionally, in the globular state, the size of the aggregates was found to increase with increasing solvent hydrophobicity and polymer concentration of the solutions. Above ist Phase transition temperature, PAM might be present as individual polymer chains in the coil state (r10 nm). As PAM is a widespread polymer in many biomedical applications (gel electrophoresis, etc.), this finding could be of high relevance for many more practical applications in high performance pharmaceuticals and/or sensors.