Effect of polymer chain architecture on the aqueous solution properties of amphiphilic copolymers: A study of poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl laurate)

The synthesis and aqueous solution properties of copolymers comprised of N- vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) and vinyl laurate (VL) with three different architectures is reported. By using reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization, statistical, forced gradient, and block copolymers were synthesized with varying compositions and molecular weights. Surface tension, critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) and micelle size were determined, and related to copolymer composition, molecular weight and architecture. It was observed that more block-like polymer architectures produced from the block copolymerizations and forced gradient copolymerizations were likely to self-assemble in solution, indicating that the degree and placement of the hydrophilic (NVP) and hydrophobic (VL) monomer units are important in predicting solution behavior of such copolymers. [Display omitted] •N-Vinylpyrrolidone and vinyl laurate copolymers were made using RAFT polymerization.•Studied impact of polymer structure and architecture on aqueous solution properties.•Copolymer architectures studied were: statistical, block-like gradient, and block.•Block-like gradient copolymers behaved similarly to block copolymers.•Block-like gradient copolymers may well be a good substitute for block copolymers.