Mild synthesis of poly(HEMA)-networks as well-defined nanoparticles in supercritical carbon dioxide

Parilti, R.; Alaimo, D.; Grignard, B.; Boury, F.; Howdle, S.M.; Jerome, C.

Abstract

Free-radical dispersion polymerisation of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate was carried out in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) in the presence of stabilisers based on polyethylene oxide (PEO) and poly(heptadecafluorodecyl acrylate) (PFDA). Different architectures of copolymers (random, palm-tree and diblock) were tested for their surface tension, cloud point and as a stabilising agent. The diblock architecture was found to be the best candidate resulting in poly(HEMA) spherical particles with a size of 316 nm. Furthermore, the effect of the CO2-phobic block (PEO) in the diblock architecture was investigated by using three different chain lengths (1000, 2000, 5000 g mol−1). By optimizing the stabiliser composition and structure, mild reaction conditions have been identified allowing us to obtain well-defined spherical cross-linked poly(HEMA) particles with a mean diameter of unprecedented low size (216 nm) at a temperature as low as 35 °C.

Citation

Parilti, R., Alaimo, D., Grignard, B., Boury, F., Howdle, S. M., & Jerome, C. (2017). Mild synthesis of poly(HEMA)-networks as well-defined nanoparticles in supercritical carbon dioxide. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 5. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7TB00740J

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 25, 2017
• Publication Date: Jun 26, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 8, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 8, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Materials Chemistry B
• Print ISSN: 2050-750X
• Electronic ISSN: 2050-7518
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7TB00740J
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/868488
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/is/content/articlelanding/2017/tb/c7tb00740j#!divAbstract
• Contract Date: Sep 8, 2017