Shape thermosensitive

Abstract A concept of amphiphilicity in application to monomer units of water-soluble polymers is presented. Molecular simulation and experimental studies of polymers consisting of amphiphilic monomers units are reviewed. Those polymers reveal unusual conformational behavior in aqueous solutions forming nanostructures of nonspherical shape. Self-association of amphiphilic thermosensitive polymers in water solutions is discussed. Possibilities for the use of thermosensitive copolymers as catalysts are described. The sharp water-organic boundaries formed by polymer associates in water solutions are shown to be a prospective medium for catalysis owing to adsorption of interfacially active substrates at the interface. 

Thermotropic Liquid Crystals. - Organic molecules, having aromatic rings or unsaturations thus producing elongated shapes, and also polymeric molecules often show thermotropic phase behavior. Mesomorphism comprises typically nematic, smectic A and B, and cholesteric thermotropic phases, but in several cases columnar, discotic and rod-disk self-assembly shapes of thermosensitive mesogens have been observed. 

In this study, the authors investigate the living cationic polymerization of polar monomers in the presence of added bases to prepare living polymers of various properties and shapes. Based on the results, various types of amphiphilic copolymers are designed, and the stimuli-induced self-association of the products, such as thermosensitive physical gelation, is characterized. 

DEP can be used to gather and orient living cells into new aggregates of preselected shape. The resultant shapes can then be fixed in form by using a thermosensitive gel. 

LUC Lu, C., Guo, S.-R., Zhang, Y., and Yin, M., Synthesis and aggregation behavior of four different shaped PCL-PEG block copolymers, Polym. Int, 55, 694, 2006. 2006LUT Lutz, J.-F., Akdemir, O., and Hoth, A., Point by point comparison of two thermosensitive polymers exhibiting a similar LCST Is the age of poly(NIPAM)... 

To broaden the window of Z-values corresponding to the formation of water-soluble IPECs, star-shaped polyions can be complexed with double hydrophilic (bis-hydrophUic) diblock copolymers comprising an ionic block and a nonionic hydrophilic block. In this case, the formed macromolecular co-assemblies remain water-soluble even if oppositely charged groups of the polymeric counterparts are taken in 1 1 ratio (Z = 1) [49], provided that the length of hydrophilic nonionic block is sufficiently long. Apart from the enhanced water-solubUity of the formed complex species, one can additionally impart new properties and desired functionalities, such as biocompatibUity, thermosensitivity, etc., through the hydrophilic nonionic block of the copolymer. 

Liang, X., Kozlovskaya, V., Chen, Y, Zavgorodnya, O., Kharlampieva, E. (2012). Thermosensitive multilayer hydrogels of poly(A-vinylcaprolactam) as nanothin films and shaped capsules. Chemistry of Materials, 24, 3707-3719. 

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