Synthesis and characterization of chiral and thermo responsive amphiphilic conetworks

Amphiphilic polymer conetworks (APCN) combine the properties of different polymers on the nanoscale affording advanced materials with unique properties. Here, we present the first APCN with a chiral hydrophilic phase. The conetworks were prepared by copolymerizing the tailored chiral monomer (R)-N-(1-hydroxybutan-2-yl)acrylamide (R-HBA) with two different crosslinkers that consist of bitelechelic methacrylate-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) of a molecular weight of 1100 g/mol and 5620 g/mol, respectively. The resulting polymer conetworks P-R-HBA-l-PDMS exhibited both two different Tg values, indicating nanophase separation. However, the conetwork with PDMS1.1 did not show nanophases in the AFM and did not swell the phases separately in orthogonal solvents. On the other hand the materials with PDMS5.6 acted like a typical APCN. The APCN P-R-HBA-l-PDMS5.6 was found to be temperature sensitive in water, decreasing its degree of swelling linearly with increasing temperature. Additionally, the conetwork is increasing its degree of swelling in n-heptane in the region of the Tg of the P-R-HBA phase. The impact of the chiral polymer on the release of cinchona alkaloids was examined. For example, (−)-cinchonine diffuses four times faster off the P-R-HBA-l-PDMS networks than off the P-S-HBA-l-PDMS conetworks.