Neutral amphiphilic homopolymer: Synthesis and characterization

PMSE 289

Elamprakash N. Savariar, elamprak@chem.umass.edu, S. Thayumanavan, thai@chem.umass.edu, and Sivakumar V. Aathimanikandan. Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, 701 Lederle Graduate Research Tower A, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003
Amphiphilic macromolecules are interesting due to their interesting solution and solid-state behavior that resulted in various applications such as catalysis, drug delivery, gene delivery etc. Compared to small molecule surfactants, amphiphilic macromolecules have lower critical aggregation constants, higher thermodynamic and mechanical stability which are crucial for various applications. Here we report the synthesis of amphilphilic homopolymer with decyl chain as hydrophilic unit and pentaethylene glyco as hydrophilic unit. Reversible addition-fragmentation transfer polymerization of amphiphilic monomer gave the polymer with polydispersity index less than 1.1. We also report here the micellar and inverted-micellar properties of this neutral amphiphilic homopolymer.