Polymer continued surfactant structure

Mini-emulsion Tiny monomer droplets dispersed in continuous phase with surfactant and hydrophobic compound emulsions produced using high shear rates or ultrasound initiator dissolved in either monomer droplets or continuous phase Polymerisation initiated in mini-emulsion droplets each miniemulsion droplet behaves like a nanoreactor high rate of polymerisation Particles in the size range 5 500 nm, with a narrow size distributbn high molecular weight of resulting polymers composite or structured particbs can be obtained... 

These are stable micelles that are formed with polymeric surfactants. Amphiphilic block copolymers such as the pluronics (polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene block copolymers) are able to self-assemble into polymeric micelles and hydrophobic drugs may be solubilized within the core of the micelle or, alternatively, conjugated to the micelle-forming polymer. Although micelles are rather dynamic systems that continuously exchange units between the micelle structure and the free units in solution, those composed of polyoxyethylene - poly(aspartic acid) have been found sufficiently... 

The most general definition of a template is as a structure-directing agent. In surfactant solutions the final templated polymers can be either discrete nanoparticles or mesostructured bulk materials as a consequence of polymerization, respectively, in the non-continuous or continuous domains of the template. Thermodynamically stable media, such as microemulsions, equilibrium vesicles, or lyotropic mesophases are especially useful as templates because of their structural definition and reproducible morphologies. The mesostructure of a thermodynamically stable template is defined by composition and temperature, but this same feature makes the structure unstable to changes in temperature, pH, or concentration. The aim of template synthesis is to transfer the self-organized template structure into a mechanically and chemically stable, durable, and processable material. 

Figure 2.6 Scheme of the mechanism for the formation of mesoporous silica. Silica polymers formed initially from silica monomers, and associated with surfactant monomers, which form composite self-organised primary particles which can either continue to grow via monomer addition (path 1) or themselves aggregate in a directional fashion (path 2) to form the final mesophase composite. Nondirectional aggregation would cause formation of disordered pore structures. Reprinted with permission from Nooney, R.I. Thirunavukkarasu, D. Chen, Y. Josephs, R. Ostafin, A.E., Synthesis of Nanoscale Mesoporous Silica Spheres with Controlled Particle Size, Chem. Mater., 14, 4721—4728. Copyright (2002) American Chemical Society... 

Gan and Chew [37,38] extended their studies to microemulsions in which all the components except water were polymerizable. Polymerization in microemulsions containing a polymerizable surfactant (sodium acrylamidoundecanoate [37] or acrylamidostearate [38]), a cosurfactant (acrylic acid), and methyl methacrylate as the continuous phase led, under certain conditions, to transparent solid terpolymers with up to 10-20% water dispersed in the polymer matrices. As in the case of copolymers, no particular structure was shown by SEM for these terpolymers. 

Qutubuddin and coworkers [43,44] were the first to report on the preparation of solid porous materials by polymerization of styrene in Winsor I, II, and III microemulsions stabilized by an anionic surfactant (SDS) and 2-pentanol or by nonionic surfactants. The porosity of materials obtained in the middle phase was greater than that obtained with either oil-continuous or water-continuous microemulsions. This is related to the structure of middle-phase microemulsions, which consist of oily and aqueous bicontinuous interconnected domains. A major difficulty encountered during the thermal polymerization was phase separation. A solid, opaque polymer was obtained in the middle with excess phases at the top (essentially 2-pentanol) and bottom (94% water). The nature of the surfactant had a profound effect on the mechanical properties of polymers. The polymers formed from nonionic microemulsions were ductile and nonconductive and exhibited a glass transition temperature lower than that of normal polystyrene. The polymers formed from anionic microemulsions were brittle and conductive and exhibited a higher Tj,. This was attributed to strong ionic interactions between polystyrene and SDS. 

A highly porous polymeric foam can be prepared through emulsion templating by polymerizing the continuous phase of high internal phase emulsions [150], A maleimide-terminated aryl ether sulfone oligomer was copolymerized with divinylbenzene in the continuous phase, using a mixed surfactants system, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, dodecylbenzene-sulfonic acid sodium salt, and a peroxide initiator. The polymers show a CO2 adsorption and improved mechanical properties. The materials exhibit an open cell and a secondary pore structure with surface areas of a 400 m g ... 

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