@article{KyriakosAravopoulouAugsbachetal.2014, author = {Kyriakos, Konstantinos and Aravopoulou, Dionysia and Augsbach, Lukas and Sapper, Josef and Ottinger, Sarah and Psylla, Christina and Rafat, Ali Aghebat and Benitez-Montoya, Carlos Adrian and Miasnikova, Anna and Di, Zhenyu and Laschewsky, Andr{\´e} and M{\"u}ller-Buschbaum, Peter and Kyritsis, Apostolos and Papadakis, Christine M.}, title = {Novel thermoresponsive block copolymers having different architectures-structural, rheological, thermal, and dielectric investigations}, series = {Colloid and polymer science : official journal of the Kolloid-Gesellschaft}, volume = {292}, journal = {Colloid and polymer science : official journal of the Kolloid-Gesellschaft}, number = {8}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {0303-402X}, doi = {10.1007/s00396-014-3282-0}, pages = {1757 -- 1774}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Thermoresponsive block copolymers comprising long, hydrophilic, nonionic poly(methoxy diethylene glycol acrylate) (PMDEGA) blocks and short hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) blocks are investigated in aqueous solution. Various architectures, namely diblock, triblock, and starblock copolymers are studied as well as a PMDEGA homopolymer as reference, over a wide concentration range. For specific characterization methods, polymers were labeled, either by partial deuteration (for neutron scattering studies) or by fluorophores. Using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, critical micellization concentrations are identified and the hydrodynamic radii of the micelles, r (h) (mic) , are determined. Using dynamic light scattering, the behavior of r (h) (mic) in dependence on temperature and the cloud points are measured. Small-angle neutron scattering enabled the detailed structural investigation of the micelles and their aggregates below and above the cloud point. Viscosity measurements are carried out to determine the activation energies in dependence on the molecular architecture. Differential scanning calorimetry at high polymer concentration reveals the glass transition of the polymers, the fraction of uncrystallized water and effects of the phase transition at the cloud point. Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy shows that the polarization changes reversibly at the cloud point, which reflects the formation of large aggregates upon heating through the cloud point and their redissolution upon cooling.}, language = {en} } @article{MiasnikovaBenitezMontoyaLaschewsky2013, author = {Miasnikova, Anna and Benitez-Montoya, Carlos Adrian and Laschewsky, Andr{\´e}}, title = {Counterintuitive photomodulation of the thermal phase transition of poly(methoxy diethylene glycol acrylate) in aqueous solution by trans-cis isomerization of Copolymerized Azobenzenes}, series = {Macromolecular chemistry and physics}, volume = {214}, journal = {Macromolecular chemistry and physics}, number = {13}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {1022-1352}, doi = {10.1002/macp.201300203}, pages = {1504 -- 1514}, year = {2013}, abstract = {The non-ionic monomer (methoxy diethylene glycol) acrylate is copolymerized with its azodye-functionalized acrylate analogue using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Copolymerization is increasingly difficult with increasing amounts of the azo-dye-bearing monomer. The resulting water-soluble polymers are thermosensitive, exhibiting lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior, which can be modulated by the photoinduced trans-cis isomerization of the dye. While already small contents of the hydrophobic azobenzene group reduce the phase-transition temperatures of the copolymers strongly, photoisomerization of the apolar trans-state to the more-polar cis-state has only a small effect, and decreases rather than increases the cloud points.}, language = {en} }