Oligomers Partitioning in Supercritical CO2

Structure-Property Relationships in CO2-philic (Co)polymers: Phase Behavior, Self-Assembly, and Stabilization of Water/CO2 Emulsions

This Review provides comprehensive guidelines for the design of CO2-philic copolymers through an exhaustive and precise coverage of factors governing the solubility of different classes of polymers. Starting from computational calculations describing the interactions of CO2 with various functionalities, we describe the phase behavior in sc-CO2 of the main families of polymers reported in literature. The self-assembly of amphiphilic copolymers of controlled architecture in supercritical carbon dioxide and their use as stabilizers for water/carbon dioxide emulsions then are covered. The relationships between the structure of such materials and their behavior in solutions and at interfaces are systematically underlined throughout these sections.

Direct Synthesis of Vinylidene Fluoride-Based Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymers by RAFT/MADIX Polymerization

We herein report the synthesis of original vinylidene fluoride (VDF)-based amphiphilic block copolymers by RAFT/MADIX polymerization. The controlled polymerization of VDF could be successfully mediated by a xanthate chain transfer agent as evidenced by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), ¹⁹F NMR, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis. Copolymers of VDF and perfluoro(methyl vinyl ether) (PMVE) of varying controlled chain lengths were also obtained. Finally, the direct synthesis of main-chain fluorinated amphiphilic block copolymers was performed from hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) macro-RAFT agents. It is expected that this finding will open interesting perspectives for the development of new class of polymeric surfactants for the stabilization of emulsions based on water and supercritical carbon dioxide media.