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Gan Z, Xu Z, Tian K, Zhou D, Li L, Ma Z, Tan R, Li W, Dong XH. Stabilizing hexagonally close-packed phase in single-component block copolymers through rational symmetry breaking. Nat Commun 2024; 15:6581. [PMID: 39097587 PMCID: PMC11297994 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50906-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Despite being predicted to be a thermodynamically equilibrium structure, the absence of direct experimental evidence of hexagonally close-packed spherical phase in single-component block copolymers raises uncomfortable concerns regarding the existing fundamental phase principles. This work presents a robust approach to regulate the phase behavior of linear block copolymers by deliberately breaking molecular symmetry, and the hexagonally close-packed lattice is captured in a rigorous single-component system. A collection of discrete A1BA2 triblock copolymers is designed and prepared through an iterative growth method. The precise chemical composition and uniform chain length eliminates inherent size distribution and other molecular defects. Simply by tuning the relative chain length of two end A blocks, a rich array of ordered nanostructures, including Frank-Kasper A15 and σ phases, are fabricated without changing the overall chemistry or composition. More interestingly, hexagonally close-packed spherical phase becomes thermodynamically stable and experimentally accessible attributed to the synergistic contribution of the two end blocks. The shorter A blocks are pulled out from the core domain into the matrix to release packing frustration, while the longer ones stabilize the ordered spherical phase against composition fluctuation that tends to disrupt the lattice. This study adds a missing puzzle piece to the block copolymer phase diagram and provides a robust approach for rational structural engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhanhui Gan
- South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology, School of Emergent Soft Matter, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional and Intelligent Hybrid Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhuoqi Xu
- South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology, School of Emergent Soft Matter, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Kun Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Dongdong Zhou
- College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Luyang Li
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhuang Ma
- South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology, School of Emergent Soft Matter, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Rui Tan
- College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Weihua Li
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xue-Hui Dong
- South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology, School of Emergent Soft Matter, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional and Intelligent Hybrid Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
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2
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Otulakowski Ł, Kasprow M, Gadzinowski M, Slomkowski S, Makowski T, Basinska T, Forys A, Godzierz M, Trzebicka B. Influence of hydrophilic block length on the aggregation properties of polyglycidol-polystyrene-polyglycidol copolymers. SOFT MATTER 2024; 20:546-557. [PMID: 38126407 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01194a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Amphiphilic triblock copolymers, polyglycidol-polystyrene-polyglycidol (PGL-PS-PGL), were synthesised via anionic polymerization starting from the synthesis of a polystyrene macroinitiator with 60 styrene units in the block terminated by ethylene oxide. Poly(ethoxyethyl glycidyl ether) blocks of different lengths were created on both sides of the macroinitiator. By removing the ethoxyethyl blocking groups, PGL-PS-PGL copolymers containing polyglycidol blocks with DP 11, 23, 44 and 63 were received. Their structures were determined by NMR and FTIR. The hydrophilicity of PLG-PS-PGL films was studied upon exposure to water vapour. To perform the copolymers' aggregation in water, the samples were dialysed from DMF into water. The critical concentration of their micellisation (CMC) was determined by measuring the absorbance of the 1,6-diphenylhexa-1,3,5-triene (DPH) probe and the intensity of light scattered by the copolymers' solution as a function of concentration. CMC values increased with increasing the number of hydrophilic glycidol units in the copolymer chain. The sizes of aggregates formed slightly above the critical concentration were measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS), and particles were imaged by cryo-TEM. Cryo-TEM pictures showed the presence of regular micelles in copolymer dispersions. For copolymers with shorter PGL chains aggregated partices were detected. Moreover, cryo-TEM demonstrated that the copolymers with a polyglycidol block of DP = 63 formed regular spherical micelles that formed 2D ordered organisation on the surface. X-ray measurements showed the formation of a partially crystallised PS core in the micelle's interior. The aggregates of all copolymers were stable. Their sizes did not change after one year of storage. The particles did not disassociate even after diluting their dispersions to a concentration 10 times lower than the critical concentration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Łukasz Otulakowski
- Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819, Poland.
| | - Maciej Kasprow
- Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819, Poland.
| | - Mariusz Gadzinowski
- Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sienkiewicza 112, 90-363 Lodz, Poland
| | - Stanislaw Slomkowski
- Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sienkiewicza 112, 90-363 Lodz, Poland
| | - Tomasz Makowski
- Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sienkiewicza 112, 90-363 Lodz, Poland
| | - Teresa Basinska
- Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sienkiewicza 112, 90-363 Lodz, Poland
| | - Aleksander Forys
- Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819, Poland.
| | - Marcin Godzierz
- Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819, Poland.
| | - Barbara Trzebicka
- Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819, Poland.
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3
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White JM, Crabtree AA, Bates FS, Calabrese MA. Effect of chain architecture on the structure, dynamics, and rheology of thermoresponsive poloxamer hydrogels and associated blends. Macromolecules 2023; 56:6834-6847. [PMID: 38774522 PMCID: PMC11104561 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c01107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2024]
Abstract
Poloxamers, ABA triblock polymers composed of a poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) midblock (B) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) endblocks (A), are widely studied for biomedical applications. Aqueous poloxamer 407 (P407; also referred to as F127) undergoes a solution-to-gel transition with increasing temperature, driven by the formation and ordering of micelles onto periodic lattices; however, the gel temperature and resulting modulus has limited tunability. Here, reverse P407 (RP407), a BAB polymer of the same composition and molar mass but the inverted architecture, is synthesized via anionic polymerization. The micellization and gelation temperatures of RP407 are higher than that of P407 and the PPO endblocks allow for intermicelle bridging; however, both single-component solutions favor body-centered cubic (BCC) packings. Further, aqueous RP407 displays a "soft gel" region with interesting rheological behavior, including viscoelastic aging and thermal hysteresis. Combining P407 and RP407 yields solutions with intermediate transition temperatures and alters the size and micelle packing. While the single-component solutions produce BCC packings, the blends form close-packed structures and larger micelles of higher aggregation numbers. Blends of P407 with an analogous AB diblock (E111P32) display similar behavior, whereas RP407/diblock blends form intermediate-sized BCC-packed micelles. These differences in packing and aggregation alter the local environments within the gels, which could have implications for applications such as drug delivery and protein stabilization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna M White
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455
| | - Adelyn A Crabtree
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455
| | - Frank S Bates
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455
| | - Michelle A Calabrese
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455
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4
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Anufriev I, Hoeppener S, Nischang I. PEG-Lipids: Quantitative Study of Unimers and Aggregates Thereof by the Methods of Molecular Hydrodynamics. Anal Chem 2023. [PMID: 37418577 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the polymorphism of lipids in solution is the key to the development of intracellular delivery systems. Here, we study the dynamics of poly(ethylene glycol)-lipid (PEG-Lipid) conjugates aiming at a better understanding of their molecular properties and aggregation behavior in solution. Those PEG-Lipids are used as components of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). LNPs are gaining increased popularity, e.g., by their utilization in modern vaccination strategies against SARS-CoV-2. Characterization of the systems is conducted by the classical methods of hydrodynamics in different solvents, such as ethanol and water, which are also commonly used for LNP formulation. We were able to elucidate the structurally associated hydrodynamic properties of isolated PEG-Lipids in ethanol, revealing the typically expected values of the hydrodynamic invariant for random coil polymers. By virtue of the same experimental setting, the PEG-Lipids' behavior in water was as well studied, which is a less good solvent than ethanol for the PEG-Lipids. Our experiments demonstrate that PEG-Lipids dissolved in water form well-defined micelles that can quantitatively be characterized in terms of their degree of aggregation of PEG-Lipid polymer unimers, their hydrodynamic size, and solvation, i.e., the quantitative determination of water contained or associated to the identified micelles. Quantitative results obtained from classical hydrodynamic analyses are fully supported by studies with standard dynamic light scattering (DLS). The obtained diffusion coefficients and hydrodynamic sizes are in excellent agreement with numerical results derived from analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) data. Cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) supports the structural insight from hydrodynamic studies, particularly, in terms of the observed spherical structure of the formed micelles. We demonstrate experimentally that the micelle systems can be considered as solvent-permeable, hydrated spheres.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya Anufriev
- Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstraße 10, 07743 Jena, Germany
- Jena Center for Soft Matter, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Philosophenweg 7, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Stephanie Hoeppener
- Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstraße 10, 07743 Jena, Germany
- Jena Center for Soft Matter, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Philosophenweg 7, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Ivo Nischang
- Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstraße 10, 07743 Jena, Germany
- Jena Center for Soft Matter, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Philosophenweg 7, 07743 Jena, Germany
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5
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Ahn J, Chen L, Underhill PT, Freychet G, Zhernenkov M, Lee S. Continuous transition of colloidal crystals through stable random orders. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:3257-3266. [PMID: 37060147 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm00199g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Randomly stacked 2D hexagonal close-packed (RHCP) layer structures are frequently observed in colloids and other material systems but are considered metastable. We report a stable RHCP phase domain of poly(butadiene-b-ethylene oxide) (PB-PEO) diblock copolymer micellar colloids in water. The stable RHCP colloidal crystals emerge in the middle of a continuously transiting phase domain of close-packed PB-PEO colloids from a face-centered cubic (FCC) polytype to a HCP polytype. We attribute the stability of RHCP structures to two competing contributions, entropic preference for FCC lattices and long PEO corona chains stabilizing HCP lattices. When these two contributions become comparable in the phase space, thermal fluctuation randomizes the stacking order of the 2D-HCP layers, and RHCP orders are stabilized. The continuously transiting close-packed structures of PB-PEO colloids with stable RHCP states suggest that similar structural transitions and equivalent RHCP states may occur in other polytypic crystal systems because polytypic crystals have the common crystal construction rule, i.e., stacking 2D-HCP lattice layer groups in different orders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juhong Ahn
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA.
| | - Liwen Chen
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA.
- School of Health Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
| | - Patrick T Underhill
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA.
| | - Guillaume Freychet
- National Synchrotron Light Source-II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA
| | - Mikhail Zhernenkov
- National Synchrotron Light Source-II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA
| | - Sangwoo Lee
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA.
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6
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Jeon S, Jun T, Jo S, Kim K, Lee B, Lee S, Ryu DY. Modifying Frank–Kasper Mesophases by Modulating Chain Configuration in PDMS- b-PTFEA Copolymers. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01146] [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)
- Seungbae Jeon
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Taesuk Jun
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Seungyun Jo
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Kyungkon Kim
- Department of Chemistry and Nanoscience, Ewha Womans University, 52 Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03760, Korea
| | - Byeongdu Lee
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Sangwoo Lee
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, United States
| | - Du Yeol Ryu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Korea
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7
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Crystallization kinetics of atomic crystals revealed by a single-shot and single-particle X-ray diffraction experiment. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2111747118. [PMID: 34921116 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111747118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Crystallization is a fundamental natural phenomenon and the ubiquitous physical process in materials science for the design of new materials. So far, experimental observations of the structural dynamics in crystallization have been mostly restricted to slow dynamics. We present here an exclusive way to explore the dynamics of crystallization in highly controlled conditions (i.e., in the absence of impurities acting as seeds of the crystallites) as it occurs in vacuum. We have measured the early formation stage of solid Xe nanoparticles nucleated in an expanding supercooled Xe jet by means of an X-ray diffraction experiment with 10-fs X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) pulses. We found that the structure of Xe nanoparticles is not pure face-centered cubic (fcc), the expected stable phase, but a mixture of fcc and randomly stacked hexagonal close-packed (rhcp) structures. Furthermore, we identified the instantaneous coexistence of the comparably sized fcc and rhcp domains in single Xe nanoparticles. The observations are explained by the scenario of structural aging, in which the nanoparticles initially crystallize in the highly stacking-disordered rhcp phase and the structure later forms the stable fcc phase. The results are reminiscent of analogous observations in hard-sphere systems, indicating the universal role of the stacking-disordered phase in nucleation.
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8
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Chen LT, Huang YT, Chen CY, Chen MZ, Chen HL. Thermodynamically Originated Stacking Fault in the Close-Packed Structure of Block Copolymer Micelles. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c00792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Li-Ting Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ting Huang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Chun-Yu Chen
- Experimental Facility Division, National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 30076, Taiwan
| | - Meng-Zhe Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Hsin-Lung Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
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9
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Jayaraman A, Baez-Cotto CM, Mann TJ, Mahanthappa MK. Dodecagonal quasicrystals of oil-swollen ionic surfactant micelles. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2101598118. [PMID: 34326256 PMCID: PMC8346870 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101598118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A delicate balance of noncovalent interactions directs the hierarchical self-assembly of molecular amphiphiles into spherical micelles that pack into three-dimensional periodic arrays, which mimic intermetallic crystals. Herein, we report the discovery that adding water to a mixture of an ionic surfactant and n-decane induces aperiodic ordering of oil-swollen spherical micelles into previously unrecognized, aqueous lyotropic dodecagonal quasicrystals (DDQCs), which exhibit local 12-fold rotational symmetry and no long-range translational order. The emergence of these DDQCs at the nexus of dynamically arrested micellar glasses and a periodic Frank-Kasper (FK) σ phase approximant sensitively depends on the mixing order of molecular constituents in the assembly process and on sample thermal history. Addition of n-decane to mixtures of surfactant and water instead leads only to periodic FK A15 and σ approximants with no evidence for aperiodic order, while extended ambient temperature annealing of the DDQC also reveals its transformation into a σ phase. Thus, these lyotropic DDQCs are long-lived metastable morphologies, which nucleate and grow from a stochastic distribution of micelle sizes formed by abrupt segregation of varied amounts of oil into surfactant micelles on hydration. These findings indicate that molecular building block complexity is not a prerequisite for the formation of aperiodic supramolecular order, while also establishing the generic nature of quasicrystalline states across metal alloys and self-assembled micellar materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashish Jayaraman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
| | | | - Tyler J Mann
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
| | - Mahesh K Mahanthappa
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455;
- Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
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10
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Lindsay AP, Cheong GK, Peterson AJ, Weigand S, Dorfman KD, Lodge TP, Bates FS. Complex Phase Behavior in Particle-Forming AB/AB′ Diblock Copolymer Blends with Variable Core Block Lengths. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Aaron P. Lindsay
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Guo Kang Cheong
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Austin J. Peterson
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Steven Weigand
- DND-CAT Synchrotron Research Center, Northwestern University, APS/ANL Building 432-A004, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Kevin D. Dorfman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Timothy P. Lodge
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Frank S. Bates
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
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11
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12
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Size characterization of core-corona spherical particles using model-free inverse Fourier transform method. POLYMER 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2020.122623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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13
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Mueller AJ, Lindsay AP, Jayaraman A, Lodge TP, Mahanthappa MK, Bates FS. Emergence of a C15 Laves Phase in Diblock Polymer/Homopolymer Blends. ACS Macro Lett 2020; 9:576-582. [PMID: 35648489 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The observation of complex, Frank-Kasper (FK) particle packings in diblock polymer melts has until recently been limited to low molecular weight, conformationally asymmetric polymers. We report temperature-dependent small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies of blends of a sphere-forming poly(styrene-block-1,4-butadiene) (SB) diblock polymer (Mn = 33.3 kg/mol, Đ = Mw/Mn = 1.08, fB = 0.18) with two different poly(1,4-butadiene) (B) homopolymer additives. When the B additive Mn is the same as that of the diblock core-forming B segment, these blends remarkably form tetrahedrally close-packed FK σ and Laves C14 and C15 phases with increasing B content. However, binary blends in which the B additive Mn is 60% of that of the diblock B segment form only the canonical body-centered cubic (BCC) particle packing and hexagonally-packed cylinders (HEXc). The observed phase behavior is rationalized in terms of "wet" and "dry" brush blending, whereby higher B Mn drives stronger localization of the homopolymer in the particle cores while preserving the interfacial area per SB diblock chain. The consequent packing constraints in these blends destabilize the BCC packing, and FK phases emerge as optimal minimal surface solutions to filling space at constant density while maximizing local particle sphericity.
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14
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Zofchak ES, LaNasa JA, Torres VM, Hickey RJ. Deciphering the Complex Phase Behavior during Polymerization-Induced Nanostructural Transitions of a Block Polymer/Monomer Blend. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b01695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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15
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Zhu HY, Tian F, Li XH, Qiu HB, Wang J. Crystallization and Phase Behavior in Block Copolymer Solution: An in Situ Small Angle X-ray Scattering Study. CHINESE JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10118-019-2258-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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16
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Nordström R, Andrén OC, Singh S, Malkoch M, Davoudi M, Schmidtchen A, Malmsten M. Degradable dendritic nanogels as carriers for antimicrobial peptides. J Colloid Interface Sci 2019; 554:592-602. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.07.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2019] [Revised: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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17
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Chen L, Lee HS, Zhernenkov M, Lee S. Martensitic Transformation of Close-Packed Polytypes of Block Copolymer Micelles. Macromolecules 2019. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b00917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Liwen Chen
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, United States
| | - Han Seung Lee
- Characterization Facility, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Mikhail Zhernenkov
- National Synchrotron Light Source-II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States
| | - Sangwoo Lee
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, United States
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18
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Yu G, Ning Q, Mo Z, Tang S. Intelligent polymeric micelles for multidrug co-delivery and cancer therapy. ARTIFICIAL CELLS NANOMEDICINE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY 2019; 47:1476-1487. [DOI: 10.1080/21691401.2019.1601104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Guangping Yu
- Learning Key Laboratory for Pharmacoproteomics of Hunan Province, Institute of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of South China, Henyang, China
- Hunan Province Key Laboratory for Antibody-based Drug and Intelligent Delivery System, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua, China
| | - Qian Ning
- Hunan Province Key Laboratory for Antibody-based Drug and Intelligent Delivery System, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua, China
| | - Zhongcheng Mo
- Clinical Anatomy and Reproductive Medicine Application Institute, Department of Histology and Embryology, Hengyang Medical school, University of South China, Henyang, China
| | - Shengsong Tang
- Learning Key Laboratory for Pharmacoproteomics of Hunan Province, Institute of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of South China, Henyang, China
- Hunan Province Key Laboratory for Antibody-based Drug and Intelligent Delivery System, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua, China
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19
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Jayaraman A, Zhang DY, Dewing BL, Mahanthappa MK. Path-Dependent Preparation of Complex Micelle Packings of a Hydrated Diblock Oligomer. ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2019; 5:619-628. [PMID: 31041381 PMCID: PMC6487539 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.8b00903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Small-angle X-ray scattering analyses reveal that the hydrated diblock oligomer n-C16H23(OCH2CH2)20-OH (C16E20 or Brij 58) forms lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) exhibiting face-centered cubic (FCC), body-centered cubic (BCC), Frank-Kasper (FK) A15, and cylindrical (HI) morphologies over the concentration range 30-65 wt % amphiphile. Heating LLCs comprising 54-59 wt % C16E20 drives the temperature-dependent phase transition sequence: A15 → BCC → HI. However, rapidly quenching the resulting HI phase from 70 to 25 °C initially forms a BCC phase that isothermally transforms into a complex, tetragonal FK σ phase comprising 30 quasispherical micelles. The metastability of this micellar σ phase is shown to depend on the sample cooling rate, thermal quench depth, and isothermal annealing temperature. We rationalize the preference for the A15 structure at 25 °C in terms of minimizing unfavorable water/hydrophobic contacts, while maximizing local particle sphericity. The symmetry breaking transition kinetics in these micellar LLCs apparently stem from the temperature-dependent activation barriers for phase nucleation and growth, which are intimately coupled to the time scales for micelle reconfiguration by amphiphile chain exchange and their spatial rearrangement. These findings highlight how thermal processing influences nucleation and growth of the self-assembled morphologies of intrinsically reconfigurable, soft spherical particles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashish Jayaraman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Diana Y. Zhang
- McKetta
Department of Chemical Engineering, The
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Beth L. Dewing
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Mahesh K. Mahanthappa
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
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