Artem M. Rumyantsev

Polymer Micelles with Hydrophobic Core and Ionic Amphiphilic Corona. 1. Statistical Distribution of Charged and Nonpolar Units in Corona

Polymer micelles with hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) core and ionic amphiphilic corona from charged N-ethyl-4-vinylpyridinium bromide (EVP) and uncharged 4-vinylpyridine (4VP) units spontaneously self-assembled from PS-block-poly(4VP-stat-EVP) macromolecules in mixed dimethylformamide/methanol/water solvent. The fraction of statistically distributed EVP units in corona-forming block is β = [EVP]/([EVP]+[4VP]) = 0.3-1. Micelles were transferred into water via dialysis technique, and pH was adjusted to 9, where 4VP is insoluble. Structural characteristics of micelles were investigated both experimentally and theoretically as a function of corona composition β. Methods of dynamic and static light scattering, electrophoretic mobility measurements, sedimentation velocity, transmission electron microscopy, and UV spectrophotometry were applied. All micelles possessed spherical morphology. The aggregation number, structure, and electrophoretic mobility of micelles changed in a jumplike manner near β ~ 0.6-0.75. Below and above this region, micelle characteristics were constant or insignificantly changed upon β. Theoretical dependencies for micelle aggregation number, corona dimensions, and fraction of small counterions outside corona versus β were derived via minimization the micelle free energy, taking into account surface, volume, electrostatic, and elastic contributions of chain units and translational entropy of mobile counterions. Theoretical estimations also point onto a sharp structural transition at a certain corona composition. The abrupt reorganization of micelle structure at β ~ 0.6-0.75 entails dramatic changes in micelle dispersion stability in the presence of NaCl or in the presence of oppositely charged polymeric (sodium polymethacrylate) or amphiphilic (sodium dodecyl sulfate) complexing agents.

Polymer gels with associating side chains and their interaction with surfactants

Conformational behaviour of hydrophobically modified (HM) polymer gels in solutions of nonionic surfactants is studied theoretically. A HM gel contains hydrophobic side chains (stickers) grafted to its subchains. Hydrophobic stickers are capable to aggregate into joint micelles with surfactant molecules. Micelles containing more than one sticker serve as additional physical cross-links of the network, and their formation causes gel shrinking. In the proposed theoretical model, the interior of the gel/surfactant complex is treated as an array of densely packed spherical polymer brushes consisting of gel subchains tethered to the surface of the spherical sticker/surfactant micelles. Effect of stickers length and grafting density, surfactant concentration and hydrophobicity on gel swelling as well as on hydrophobic association inside it is analyzed. It is shown that increasing surfactant concentration can result in a gel collapse, which is caused by surfactant-induced hydrophobic aggregation of stickers, and a successive gel reswelling. The latter should be attributed to a growing fraction of surfactants in joint aggregates and, hence, increasing number of micelles containing only one sticker and not participating in gel physical cross-linking. In polyelectrolyte (PE) gels hydrophobic aggregation is opposed by osmotic pressure of mobile counterions, so that at some critical ionization degree hydrophobic association is completely suppressed. Hydrophobic modification of polymers is shown to open new ways for controlling gel responsiveness. In particular, it is discussed that incorporation of photosensitive groups into gel subchains and/or surfactant tail could give a possibility to vary the gel volume by light. Since hydrophobic aggregation regularities in gels and solutions are common, we hope our findings will be useful for design of polymer based self-healing materials as well.

Communication: Light driven remote control of microgels’ size in the presence of photosensitive surfactant: Complete phase diagram

Here we report on a light triggered remote control of microgel size in the presence of photosensitive surfactant. The hydrophobic tail of the cationic surfactant contains azobenzene group that undergoes a reversible photo-isomerization reaction from a trans- to a cis-state accompanied by a change in the hydrophobicity of the surfactant. We have investigated light assisted behaviour and the complex formation of the microgels with azobenzene containing surfactant over the broad concentrational range starting far below and exceeding several times of the critical micelle concentration (CMC). At small surfactant concentration in solution (far below CMC), the surfactant in the trans-state accommodates within the microgel causing its compaction, while the cis-isomer desorbs out of microgel resulting in its swelling. The process of the microgel size change can be described as swelling on UV irradiation (trans-cis isomerization) and shrinking on irradiation with blue light (cis-trans isomerization). However, at the surfactant concentrations larger than CMC, the opposite behaviour is observed: the microgel swells on blue irradiation and shrinks during exposure to UV light. We explain this behaviour theoretically taking into account isomer dependent micellization of surfactant within the microgels.

Non-classical growth of water-redispersible spheroidal gold nanoparticles assisted by leonardite humate

The growth of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) assisted by humate – a natural hyperbranched polyelectrolyte – was studied using in situ and ex situ techniques. The conditions for formation of almost monodisperse gold nanospheres of 13 ± 3 nm diameter with pronounced plasmonic properties were defined. A striking similarity was found between humate- and citrate-mediated growth of AuNPs: the formation of gold nanospheres involved rapid nucleation of gold seeds, slow growth within the intermediate agglomerates (visible as nanoworms after drying on a TEM grid), and rapid peptization into the final gold nanospheres. Both humate and citrate syntheses produced ultrastable gold sols with pronounced plasmonic properties. The substantial difference was slower kinetics of humate synthesis, 240 min versus 15 min for citrate, and the water redispersible properties of the humate-capped gold nanospheres after freeze drying, which was not seen with the citrate AuNPs. Theoretical calculations revealed a leading role of steric factors in the formation of intermediate aggregates of capped AuNPs at the stage of their slow growth in the case of both citrate and humate. We suggested that it was the polyelectrolyte nature of humate which enabled the water-redispersibility of humate- versus citrate-capped gold nanoparticles.