TY - JOUR A1 - Zou, Hua A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Thermoresponsive PNIPAM/Silica Nanoparticles by Direct Photopolymerization in Aqueous Media JF - Journal of polymer science : A, Polymer chemistry N2 - This article presents a simple and facile method to fabricate thermoresponsive polymer-grafted silica particles by direct surface-initiated photopolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM). This method is based on silica particles bearing thiol functionalities, which are transformed into thiyl radicals by irradiation with UV light to initiate the polymerization of NIPAM in aqueous media at room temperature. The photopolymerization of NIPAM could be applied to smaller thiol-functionalized particles (approximate to 48 nm) as well as to larger particles (approximate to 692 nm). Hollow poly(NIPAM) capsules could be formed after etching away the silica cores from the composite particles. It is possible to produce tailor-made composite particles or capsules for particular applications by extending this approach to other vinyl monomers. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 2015, 53, 1260-1267 KW - nanocomposites KW - nanoparticles KW - photopolymerization KW - silica nanoparticles KW - surface-initiated photopolymerization KW - thermoresponsive KW - thiol Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/pola.27593 SN - 0887-624X SN - 1099-0518 VL - 53 IS - 10 SP - 1260 EP - 1267 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zheng, Botuo A1 - Bai, Tianwen A1 - Tao, Xinfeng A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Ling, Jun T1 - Identifying the Hydrolysis of Carbonyl Sulfide as a Side Reaction Impeding the Polymerization of N-Substituted Glycine N-Thiocarboxyanhydride JF - Biomacromolecules : an interdisciplinary journal focused at the interface of polymer science and the biological sciences N2 - Polypeptoids are noticeable biological materials due to their versatile properties and various applications in drug delivery, surface modification, self-assembly, etc. N-Substituted glycine N-thiocarboxyanhydrides (NNTAs) are more stable monomers than the corresponding N-carboxyanhydrides (NNCAs) and enable one to prepare polypeptoids via ring-opening polymerization even in the presence of water. However, larger amounts of water (>10,000 ppm) cause inhibition of the polymerization. Herein, we discover that during polymerization hydrogen sulfide evolves from the hydrolysis of carbonyl sulfide, which is the byproduct of ring-opening reaction, and reacts with NNTA to produce cyclic oligopeptoids. The capture of N-ethylethanethioic acid as an intermediate product confirms the reaction mechanism together with density functional theory quantum computational results. By bubbling the polymerization solution with argon, the side reaction can be suppressed to allow the synthesis of polysarcosine with high molar mass (M-n = 11,200 g/mol, D = 1.25) even in the presence of similar to 10,000 ppm of water. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.8b01119 SN - 1525-7797 SN - 1526-4602 VL - 19 IS - 11 SP - 4263 EP - 4269 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yuan, Jiayin A1 - ten Brummelhuis, Niels A1 - Junginger, Mathias A1 - Xie, Zailai A1 - Lu, Yan A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Diversified applications of chemically modified 1,2-Polybutadiene JF - Macromolecular rapid communications N2 - Commercially available 1,2-PB was transformed into a well-defined reactive intermediate by quantitative bromination. The brominated polymer was used as a polyfunctional macroinitiator for the cationic ring-opening polymerization of 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline to yield a water-soluble brush polymer. Nucleophilic substitution of bromide by 1-methyl imidazole resulted in the formation of polyelectrolyte copolymers consisting of mixed units of imidazolium, bromo, and double bond. These copolymers, which were soluble in water without forming aggregates, were used as stabilizers in the heterophase polymerization of styrene and were also studied for their ionic conducting properties. KW - emulsion polymerization KW - polybutadiene KW - polyelectrolytes KW - polymer modification KW - ring-opening polymerization Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201100254 SN - 1022-1336 VL - 32 IS - 15 SP - 1157 EP - 1162 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wessig, Pablo A1 - Schulze, Tanja A1 - Pfennig, Alexandra A1 - Weidner, Steffen M. A1 - Prentzel, Sascha A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Thiol-ene polymerization of oligospiroketal rods JF - Polymer Chemistry N2 - The nucleophilic thiol-ene (thia-Michael) reaction between molecular rods bearing terminal thiols and bis-maleimides was investigated. The molecular rods have oligospiroketal (OSK) and oligospirothioketal (OSTK) backbones. Contrary to the expectations, cyclic oligomers were always obtained instead of linear rigid-rod polymers. Replacing the OS(T)K rods with a flexible chain yielded polymeric products, suggesting that the OS(T) K structure is responsible for the formation of cyclic products. The reason for the preferred formation of cyclic products is due to the presence of folded conformations, which have already been described for articulated rods. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c7py01569k SN - 1759-9954 SN - 1759-9962 VL - 8 SP - 6879 EP - 6885 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vacogne, Charlotte Dominique A1 - Wei, Chunxiang A1 - Tauer, Klaus A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Self-assembly of alpha-helical polypeptides into microscopic and enantiomorphic spirals JF - Journal of the american chemical society N2 - Helical structures are ubiquitous in biological materials and often serve a structural purpose. Bioinspired helical materials can be challenging to synthesize and rarely reach the degree of hierarchy of their natural counterparts. Here we report the first example of particles synthesized by direct emulsification of polypeptides found to display spiral morphologies in the dry state. The polypeptides were alpha-helical homo- and copolypeptides of gamma-benzyl glutamate and allylglycine. The chirality of the spirals was controlled by the chirality of the alpha-helices. Notably, right-handed alpha-helical polypeptides (rich in 1, residues) produced clockwise spirals, whereas left-handed alpha-helical polypeptides (rich in D residues) produced the enantiomorphs, i.e., counterclockwise spirals. The disruption of the alpha-helical conformation by the introduction of chiral defects led to less regular spirals and in some cases their suppression. A hypothesis for the transmission of helicity and chirality from a molecular to a higher hierarchical level, involving fibril bundling of coiled alpha-helices, is proposed. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b06503 SN - 0002-7863 VL - 140 IS - 36 SP - 11387 EP - 11394 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vacogne, Charlotte D. A1 - Schopferer, Michael A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Physical Gelation of alpha-Helical Copolypeptides JF - Biomacromolecules : an interdisciplinary journal focused at the interface of polymer science and the biological sciences N2 - Owing to its rod-like alpha-helical secondary structure, the synthetic polypeptide poly(gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG) can form physical and thermoreversible gels in helicogenic solvents such as toluene. The versatility of PBLG can be increased by introducing functionalizable comonomers, such as allylglycine (AG). In this work we examined the secondary structure of PBLG and a series of statistical poly(gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate-co-allylglycine) copolypeptides, varying in composition and chain length, by circular dichroism (CD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy, and wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). The secondary structure of PBLG and the copolypeptides presented dissimilarities that increased with increasing AG molar fraction, especially when racemic AG units were incorporated. The physical gelation behavior of these copolypeptides was analyzed by temperature-sweep H-1 NMR and rheological measurements. The study revealed that both copolypeptide composition and chain length affected secondary structure, gelation temperature, and gel stiffness. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.6b00427 SN - 1525-7797 SN - 1526-4602 VL - 17 SP - 2384 EP - 2391 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vacogne, Charlotte D. A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Primary ammonium/tertiary amine-mediated controlled ring opening polymerisation of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides JF - Chemical communications N2 - Stable commercial primary ammonium chlorides were combined with tertiary amines to initiate the controlled ring opening polymerisation of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides to yield polypeptides with defined end group structure, predetermined molar mass and narrow molar mass distribution. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cc06905j SN - 1359-7345 SN - 1364-548X VL - 51 IS - 86 SP - 15645 EP - 15648 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vacogne, Charlotte D. A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Controlled ring-opening polymerization of alpha-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides in the presence of tertiary amines JF - Polymer : the international journal for the science and technology of polymers N2 - The mechanism of the primary ammonium/tertiary amine-mediated ring-opening polymerization of gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate N-carboxyanhydride (BLG-NCA) was investigated. Kinetic analyses revealed that the normal amine mechanism (NAM) together with a dormant-active chain end equilibrium were responsible for the controlled nature of this polymerization pathway, but that the polymerization also proceeded via the activated monomer mechanism (AMM). Mixtures of primary amines (1 equiv) and tertiary amines (0-1.5 equiv) were therefore tested to confirm the co-existence of the NAM and AMM and determine the limits for a controlled polymerization. For tertiary amine molar fractions smaller than 0.8 equiv, the reaction times were greatly reduced (compared to primary amine-initiated polymerization) without compromising the control of the reaction. Hence, the polymerization of NCA can proceed in a controlled manner even when the AMM contributes to the overall chain growth mechanism. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KW - Ring-opening polymerization KW - Amino acid N-carboxyanhydride KW - NCA KW - Kinetics KW - Mechanism Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2017.07.062 SN - 0032-3861 SN - 1873-2291 VL - 124 SP - 203 EP - 209 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vacogne, Charlotte D. A1 - Brosnan, Sarah M. A1 - Masic, Admir A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Fibrillar gels via the self-assembly of poly(L-glutamate)-based statistical copolymers JF - Polymer Chemistry N2 - Polypeptides having secondary structures often undergo self-assembly which can extend over multiple length scales. Poly(gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG), for example, folds into a-helices and forms physical organogels, whereas poly(L-glutamic acid) (PLGA at acidic pH) or poly(L-glutamate) (PLG at neutral/basic pH) do not form hydrogels. We explored the gelation of modified PBLG and investigated the deprotection of the carboxylic acid moieties in such gels to yield unique hydrogels. This was accomplished through photo-crosslinking gelation of poly(gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate-co-allylglycine) statistical copolymers in toluene, tetrahydrofuran, and 1,4-dioxane. Unlike most polymer-based chemical gels, our gels were prepared from dilute solutions (<20 g L-1, i.e., <2% w/v) of low molar mass polymers. Despite such low concentrations and molar masses, our dioxane gels showed high mechanical stability and little shrinkage; remarkably, they also exhibited a porous fibrillar network. Deprotection of the carboxylic acid moieties in dioxane gels yielded pH responsive and highly absorbent PLGA/PLG-based hydrogels (swelling ratio of up to 87), while preserving the network structure, which is an unprecedented feature in the context of crosslinked PLGA gels. These outstanding properties are highly attractive for biomedical materials. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5py00491h SN - 1759-9954 SN - 1759-9962 VL - 6 IS - 28 SP - 5040 EP - 5052 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tritschler, Ulrich A1 - Zlotnikov, Igor A1 - Keckeis, Philipp A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Cölfen, Helmut T1 - Optical properties of self-organized gold nanorod-polymer hybrid films JF - Langmuir N2 - High fractions of gold nanorods were locally aligned by means of a polymeric liquid crystalline phase. The gold nanorods constituting >80 wt % of the thin organic-inorganic composite films form a network with side-by-side and end-to-end combinations. Organization into these network structures was induced by shearing gold nanorod-LC polymer dispersions via spin-coating. The LC polymer is a polyoxazoline functionalized with pendent cholesteryl and carboxyl side groups enabling the polymer to bind to the CTAB stabilizer layer of the gold nanorods via electrostatic interactions, thus forming the glue between organic and inorganic components, and to form a chiral nematic lyotropic phase. The self-assembled locally oriented gold nanorod structuring enables control over collective optical properties due to plasmon resonance coupling, reminiscent of enhanced optical properties of natural biomaterials. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/la503507u SN - 0743-7463 VL - 30 IS - 46 SP - 13781 EP - 13790 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER -