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Dorchei F, Heydari A, Kroneková Z, Kronek J, Pelach M, Cseriová Z, Chorvát D, Zúñiga-Navarrete F, Rios PD, McGarrigle J, Ghani S, Isa D, Joshi I, Vasuthas K, Rokstad AMA, Oberholzer J, Raus V, Lacík I. Postmodification with Polycations Enhances Key Properties of Alginate-Based Multicomponent Microcapsules. Biomacromolecules 2024. [PMID: 38857534 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.4c00222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2024]
Abstract
Postmodification of alginate-based microspheres with polyelectrolytes (PEs) is commonly used in the cell encapsulation field to control microsphere stability and permeability. However, little is known about how different applied PEs shape the microsphere morphology and properties, particularly in vivo. Here, we addressed this question using model multicomponent alginate-based microcapsules postmodified with PEs of different charge and structure. We found that the postmodification can enhance or impair the mechanical resistance and biocompatibility of microcapsules implanted into a mouse model, with polycations surprisingly providing the best results. Confocal Raman microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) analyses revealed stable interpolyelectrolyte complex layers within the parent microcapsule, hindering the access of higher molar weight PEs into the microcapsule core. All microcapsules showed negative surface zeta potential, indicating that the postmodification PEs get hidden within the microcapsule membrane, which agrees with CLSM data. Human whole blood assay revealed complex behavior of microcapsules regarding their inflammatory and coagulation potential. Importantly, most of the postmodification PEs, including polycations, were found to be benign toward the encapsulated model cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faeze Dorchei
- Department for Biomaterials Research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Abolfazl Heydari
- Department for Biomaterials Research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
- National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases, Nábrežie I. Krasku 4, 921 12 Piešt'any, Slovakia
| | - Zuzana Kroneková
- Department for Biomaterials Research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
- National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases, Nábrežie I. Krasku 4, 921 12 Piešt'any, Slovakia
| | - Juraj Kronek
- Department for Biomaterials Research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
- National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases, Nábrežie I. Krasku 4, 921 12 Piešt'any, Slovakia
| | - Michal Pelach
- Department for Biomaterials Research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Zuzana Cseriová
- Department for Biomaterials Research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Dušan Chorvát
- Department of Biophotonics, International Laser Centre, Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information, Ilkovičova 3, 841 04 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Fernando Zúñiga-Navarrete
- Department of Proteomics, Institute of Virology, Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Peter D Rios
- CellTrans, Inc., 2201 W. Campbell Park Dr., Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
| | - James McGarrigle
- CellTrans, Inc., 2201 W. Campbell Park Dr., Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
| | - Sofia Ghani
- CellTrans, Inc., 2201 W. Campbell Park Dr., Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
| | - Douglas Isa
- CellTrans, Inc., 2201 W. Campbell Park Dr., Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
| | - Ira Joshi
- CellTrans, Inc., 2201 W. Campbell Park Dr., Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
| | - Kalaiyarasi Vasuthas
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Prinsesse Kristinas gt.1, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Anne Mari A Rokstad
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Prinsesse Kristinas gt.1, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - José Oberholzer
- CellTrans, Inc., 2201 W. Campbell Park Dr., Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
- Department of Visceral Surgery and Transplantation, University Hospital Zurich, Raemistrasse 100, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Vladimír Raus
- Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Heyrovského nám. 2, 162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Igor Lacík
- Department for Biomaterials Research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
- National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases, Nábrežie I. Krasku 4, 921 12 Piešt'any, Slovakia
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Holkar A, Gao S, Villaseñor K, Lake M, Srivastava S. Quantitative turbidimetric characterization of stabilized complex coacervate dispersions. SOFT MATTER 2024. [PMID: 38743276 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01761c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Stabilizing complex coacervate microdroplets is desirable due to their various applications, such as bioreactors, drug delivery vehicles, and encapsulants. Here, we present quantitative characterization of complex coacervate dispersion stability inferred by turbidimetry measurements. The stability of the dispersions is shown to be modulated by the concentrations of comb polyelectrolyte (cPE) stabilizers and salt. We demonstrate cPEs as effective stabilizers for complex coacervate dispersions independent of the chemistry or length of the constituent polyelectrolytes, salts, or preparation routes. By monitoring the temporal evolution of dispersion turbidity, we show that cPEs suppress microdroplet coalescence with minimal change in microdroplet sizes over 48 hours, even at salt concentrations up to 300 mM. The number density and average microdroplet size are shown to be controlled by varying the cPE and salt concentrations. Lastly, turbidity maps, akin to binodal phase maps, depict an expansion of the turbid two-phase region and an increase in the salt resistance of the coacervates upon the introduction of cPEs. The coacervate salt resistance is shown to increase by >3×, and this increase is maintained for up to 15 days, demonstrating that cPEs impart higher salt resistance over extended durations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Advait Holkar
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Shang Gao
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Kathleen Villaseñor
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Michael Lake
- NSF BioPACIFIC MIP, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Samanvaya Srivastava
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
- NSF BioPACIFIC MIP, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Institute for Carbon Management, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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3
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Staňo R, van Lente J, Lindhoud S, Košovan P. Sequestration of Small Ions and Weak Acids and Bases by a Polyelectrolyte Complex Studied by Simulation and Experiment. Macromolecules 2024; 57:1383-1398. [PMID: 38370910 PMCID: PMC10867894 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c01209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Mixing of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes can result in phase separation into a polymer-poor supernatant and a polymer-rich polyelectrolyte complex (PEC). We present a new coarse-grained model for the Grand-reaction method that enables us to determine the composition of the coexisting phases in a broad range of pH and salt concentrations. We validate the model by comparing it to recent simulations and experimental studies, as well as our own experiments on poly(acrylic acid)/poly(allylamine hydrochloride) complexes. The simulations using our model predict that monovalent ions partition approximately equally between both phases, whereas divalent ones accumulate in the PEC phase. On a semiquantitative level, these results agree with our own experiments, as well as with other experiments and simulations in the literature. In the sequel, we use the model to study the partitioning of a weak diprotic acid at various pH values of the supernatant. Our results show that the ionization of the acid is enhanced in the PEC phase, resulting in its preferential accumulation in this phase, which monotonically increases with the pH. Currently, this effect is still waiting to be confirmed experimentally. We explore how the model parameters (particle size, charge density, permittivity, and solvent quality) affect the measured partition coefficients, showing that fine-tuning of these parameters can make the agreement with the experiments almost quantitative. Nevertheless, our results show that charge regulation in multivalent solutes can potentially be exploited in engineering the partitioning of charged molecules in PEC-based systems at various pH values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Staňo
- Faculty
of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Vienna
Doctoral School in Physics, University of
Vienna, Boltzmanngasse
5, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Jéré
J. van Lente
- Department
of Molecules & Materials, University
of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands
| | - Saskia Lindhoud
- Department
of Molecules & Materials, University
of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands
| | - Peter Košovan
- Department
of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Hlavova 8, 128 40 Prague 2, Czech Republic
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4
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Heo TY, Choi SH. Ionic Strength-Dependent Structure of Complex Coacervate Core Micelles. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:1256-1265. [PMID: 38288748 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c06004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
Salt concentration-dependent structure of complex coacervate core micelles (C3Ms), formed by polyether-based block copolyelectrolytes containing cationic ammonium (A) or anionic sulfonate (S) groups in aqueous media, is investigated by light scattering and small-angle X-ray/neutron scattering (SAX/NS). As the salt concentration increases, both a core radius (Rcore) and an aggregation number (Nagg) significantly decrease, but a corona thickness (Lcorona) is nearly unchanged. Larger salt concentrations can lower the interfacial tension between the coacervate cores and aqueous media, resulting in an increased interfacial area per chain and a more relaxed conformation of the core blocks. Based on the structure characterization, the scaling relationship between structure parameters (i.e., Rcore, Nagg, and Lcorona) and salt concentration is obtained and compared to the theoretical description estimated by the free energy balance between the entropic penalty of core stretching and the interfacial energy. We propose that the free energy contribution of the core block stretching is not negligible in C3Ms because of the highly swollen cores caused by water.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tae-Young Heo
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea
| | - Soo-Hyung Choi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea
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5
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van Westerveld L, Es Sayed J, de Graaf M, Hofman AH, Kamperman M, Parisi D. Hydrophobically modified complex coacervates for designing aqueous pressure-sensitive adhesives. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:8832-8848. [PMID: 37947361 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01114c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
The rheology of complex coacervates can be elegantly tuned via the design and control of specific non-covalent hydrophobic interactions between the complexed polymer chains. The well-controlled balance between elasticity and energy dissipation makes complex coacervates perfect candidates for pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs). In this work, the polyanion poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) (PSPMA) and the polycation quaternized poly(4-vinylpyridine) (QP4VP) were used to prepare complex coacervates in water. Progressive increase of hydrophobicity is introduced to the polyanion via partial deprotection of the protected precursor. Hence, the polymer chains in the complex coacervates can interact via both electrostatic (controlled by the amount of salt) and hydrophobic (controlled by the deprotection degree) interactions. It was observed that: (i) a rheological time-salt-hydrophobicity superposition principle is applicable, and can be used as a predictive tool for rheology, (ii) the slowdown of the stress relaxation dynamics, due to the increase of hydrophobic stickers (lower deprotection degree), can be captured by the sticky-Rouse model, and (iii) the systematic variation of hydrophobic stickers, amount of salt, and molecular weight of the polymers, enables the identification of optimizing parameters to design aqueous PSA systems. The presented results offer new pathways to control the rheology of complex coacervates and their applicability as PSAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa van Westerveld
- Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Julien Es Sayed
- Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Marijn de Graaf
- Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Anton H Hofman
- Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Marleen Kamperman
- Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Daniele Parisi
- Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands.
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6
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Kim S, Lee WB, de Souza NR, Choi SH. QENS study on local segmental dynamics of polyelectrolytes in complex coacervates. POLYMER 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2022.125525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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7
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Xiong W, Wang X, Liu Y, Luo C, Lu X, Cai Y. Polymerization-Induced Electrostatic Self-Assembly Governed by Guanidinium Ionic Hydrogen Bonds. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Weixing Xiong
- State-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymer Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Xiyu Wang
- State-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymer Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Yuanyuan Liu
- State-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymer Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Caihui Luo
- State-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymer Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Xinhua Lu
- State-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymer Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Yuanli Cai
- State-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymer Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
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8
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Aquino Queirós MV, Loh W. How to Predict the Order of Phase Separation of Polyelectrolyte Complexes and Their Miscibility. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:5362-5373. [PMID: 35819870 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c03454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The mixture of two oppositely charged polyelectrolyte solutions results in complexation that may lead to an associative phase separation, forming a highly concentrated phase in both polyelectrolytes in equilibrium with a dilute phase. In this work, we aim to investigate what controls the order of complexation when more polyelectrolytes of the same charge are present. For this, the effect of the addition of a third oppositely charged polyelectrolyte in a mixture of two polyelectrolytes with the same charge was studied. Our results show that, under certain conditions, the electrostatic complexation takes place selectively, where one polyanion (or polycation) phase separates first, followed by the other phase separation, with both complexes at their 1:1 charge stoichiometry. Infrared analyses of the phase-separated complexes confirmed that, in a mixture of polyanions, poly(styrenesulfonate) is complexed first, followed by poly(acrylate). For polycations, these analyses showed that poly(diallyldimethylammonium) is preferentially complexed over poly(allylamine). These results suggest that electrostatic complexation occurs following the sequence predicted as in an acid/base titration, where the acidic/basic strength of the involved polyions dictates which one is complexed first. In this respect, the order of complexation can be associated with the equivalence pH for each pair, which we propose can be used as a parameter to predict phase separation in polyelectrolyte mixtures. In addition, we have investigated the miscibility of these complex mixtures, confirming that multiphasic complexes are formed whenever the polyions display ionizable groups with different acid/basic strengths and that this can also be related to their equivalence pH.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Watson Loh
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), P.O. Box 6154, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
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9
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Debais G, Tagliazucchi M. Two Sides of the Same Coin: A Unified Theoretical Treatment of Polyelectrolyte Complexation in Solution and Layer-by-Layer Films. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Debais
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Inorgánica Analítica y Química Física, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Química de los Materiales, Ambiente y Energía (INQUIMAE)CONICET- Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Mario Tagliazucchi
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Inorgánica Analítica y Química Física, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Química de los Materiales, Ambiente y Energía (INQUIMAE)CONICET- Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
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10
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Kim S, Kim JM, Wood K, Choi SH. Ionic group-dependent structure of complex coacervate hydrogels formed by ABA triblock copolymers. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:4146-4155. [PMID: 35583260 DOI: 10.1039/d2sm00255h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This study investigates the nanostructure of complex coacervate core hydrogels (C3Gs) with varying compositions of cationic charged groups (i.e., ammonium and guanidinium) using small-angle X-ray/neutron scattering (SAX/NS). C3Gs were prepared by stoichiometric mixing of two oppositely charged ABA triblock copolymers in aqueous solvents, in which A end-blocks were functionalized with either sulfonate groups or a mixture of ammonium and guanidinium groups. Comprehensive small-angle X-ray/neutron scattering (SAX/NS) analysis elucidated the dependence of C3Gs structures on the fraction of guanidinium groups in the cationic end-block (x) and salt concentration (cs). As x increases, the polymer volume fraction in the cores, and interfacial tension (γcore) and salt resistance (c*) of the coacervate cores increase, which is attributed to the greater hydrophobicity and non-electrostatic association. Furthermore, we observed that the salt dependence of the interfacial tension follows γcore ∼ (1 - cs/c*)3/2 in all series of x. The results show that the variation of the ionic group provides a powerful method to control the salt-responsiveness of C3Gs as stimuli-responsive materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seyoung Kim
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea.
| | - Jung-Min Kim
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea.
| | - Kathleen Wood
- Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Soo-Hyung Choi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea.
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