Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymers with a Moderately Hydrophobic Block: Toward Dynamic Micelles

A study was conducted to propose a way of transforming a frozen system into a dynamic one by acting on the chemical structure of the amphiphilic block copolymer. The approach consisted of introduction of some hydrophilic units in the hydrophobic block to reduce the interfacial tension between the moderately hydrophobic block the hydrophilic block and the aqueous medium, promoting unimer exchange. The investigation on a P(nBA-stat-AA)-b-PAA block copolymer, which was a pure poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) hydrophilic block connected to a statistical copolymer of nBA and AA units forming the moderately hydrophobic block. The investigation also focused on controlled synthesis of the P(nBA50%-stat-AA50%)99-b-PAA98 block copolymer using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). This emphasized the statistical distribution of the hydrophobic (nBA) and hydrophilic (AA) units in the P(nBA50%-stat-AA50%)99 first block.