CO2-responsive polymeric materials: synthesis, self-assembly, and functional applications

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Abstract

CO ₂ is an ideal trigger for switchable or stimuli-responsive materials because it is benign, inexpensive, green, abundant, and does not accumulate in the system.

CO ₂ is an ideal trigger for switchable or stimuli-responsive materials because it is benign, inexpensive, green, abundant, and does not accumulate in the system. Many different CO ₂-responsive materials including polymers, latexes, solvents, solutes, gels, surfactants, and catalysts have been prepared. This review focuses on the preparation, self-assembly, and functional applications of CO ₂-responsive polymers. Detailed discussion is provided on the synthesis of CO ₂-responsive polymers, in particular using reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP), formerly known as controlled/living radical polymerization (CLRP), a powerful technique for the preparation of well-defined (co)polymers with precise control over molecular weight distribution, chain-end functional groups, and polymer architectural design. Self-assembly in aqueous dispersed media is highlighted as well as emerging potential applications.

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Polymer vesicles.

Dennis E. Discher, Adi Eisenberg (2002)

Vesicles are microscopic sacs that enclose a volume with a molecularly thin membrane. The membranes are generally self-directed assemblies of amphiphilic molecules with a dual hydrophilic-hydrophobic character. Biological amphiphiles form vesicles central to cell function and are principally lipids of molecular weight less than 1 kilodalton. Block copolymers that mimic lipid amphiphilicity can also self-assemble into vesicles in dilute solution, but polymer molecular weights can be orders of magnitude greater than those of lipids. Structural features of vesicles, as well as properties including stability, fluidity, and intermembrane dynamics, are greatly influenced by characteristics of the polymers. Future applications of polymer vesicles will rely on exploiting unique property-performance relations, but results to date already underscore the fact that biologically derived vesicles are but a small subset of what is physically and chemically possible.