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Nanostructured Amphiphilic Conetworks
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Amphiphilic
conetworks (APCNs) are macromolecular superstructures where the
composing hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymer chains are connected
to each other with covalent bonds.
Driven
by their thermodynamic incompatibility, yet hindered by the nature
of their chemical bonding the two polymers try to segregate and
in the end form a special nanostructure which differs significantly
from the morphology of conventional multicomponent polymeric systems.
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Our
research group has so far synthesised and investigated the properties
of such conetworks built of polyisobutylene, polydimethylsiloxane or
poly(tetrahydrofurane)
as hydrophobic component, and poly(methacrylic acid),
poly(N,N-dimethyl acrylamide), poly(N,N-diethyl acrylamide),
poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide), poly(2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate),
poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), poly(N-vinyl imidazole) or
poly(ethylene oxide) as hydrophilic components.
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APCN gel |
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Investigations
are in progress to determine the role and effect of synthetic
parameters, while structural studies involving swelling experiments
and numerous instrumental assays (e.g. DSC, Solid-state
NMR, SAXS, AFM etc) are being carried out to reveal
the special (and often unprecedented) properties of these novel
materials.
Some of
these properties include smart responsive behaviour to change
in environmental parameters such pH or temperature, the distribution
of inorganic materials in the polymer matrix, controlled drug
release and well-controllable protein and cell adhesion among
others. |
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Nanophase-separated structure of an APCN, 500x500 nanometers, AFM
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Béla Iván,
Szabolcs Pásztor,
Tímea Stumphauser,
Ákos Szabó
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