Research article summary (published 30 Aug 2009):

Supramolecular assemblies of amphiphilic homopolymers.

Full Abstract

Amphiphilic molecules self-assemble in solvents because of the differential solvation of the hydrophilic and lipophilic functionalities. Small-molecule surfactants have long been known to form micelles in water that can solubilize lipophilic guest molecules in their water-excluded interior. Polymeric surfactants based on block copolymers are also known to form several types of aggregates in water owing either to the mutual incompatibility of the blocks or better solvation of one of the blocks by the solvent. Incorporating amphiphilicity at smaller length scales in polymers would provide an avenue to capture the interesting properties of macromolecules and fine tune their supramolecular assemblies. To address this issue, we designed and synthesized amphiphilic homopolymers containing hydrophilic and lipophilic functionalities in the monomer. Such a polymer can be imagined to be a string of small-molecule surfactants tethered together such that the hydrophilic and lipophilic functionalities are located on opposite faces, rendering the assemblies facially amphiphilic. This feature article describes the self-assembly of our amphiphilic homopolymers in polar and apolar solvents. These homopolymers not only form micelles in water but also form inverse micelles in organic solvents. Subtle changes to the molecular structure have been demonstrated to yield vesicles in water and inverted micelles in organic solvents. The characterization of these assemblies and their applications in separations, catalysis, and sensing are described here.

Author information

Author/s: Kale, Tejaswini S (TS); Klaikherd, Akamol (A); Popere, Bhooshan (B); Thayumanavan, S (S);

Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids (Langmuir), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 25 (issue 17) : pp 9660-70

Dates: Created 2009/08/26; Completed 2009/11/03;

PMID: 19453140, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/3/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Fluorescent Dyes - pharmacology Kinetics Macromolecular Substances - chemistry Micelles Microscopy, Electron, Transmission - methods Models, Chemical Nanotechnology - methods Pattern Recognition, Automated

Pattern Recognition, Automated Peptides - chemistry Polymers - chemistry Protein Multimerization Proteins - chemistry Solvents - chemistry Surface Properties Surface-Active Agents - chemistry

Associated Chemicals: Fluorescent Dyes (0) ; Macromolecular Substances (0) ; Micelles (0) ; Peptides (0) ; Polymers (0) ; Proteins (0) ; Solvents (0) ; Surface-Active Agents (0)

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