Rheological properties of aqueous micellar gels of a thermo- and pH-sensitive ABA triblock copolymer.

This article presents a systematic study of the effect of pH on the rheological properties of aqueous micellar gels formed from 10.0 wt % aqueous solutions of a thermo- and pH-sensitive ABA triblock copolymer, poly(ethoxydi(ethylene glycol) acrylate-co-acrylic acid)-b-poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(ethoxydi(ethylene glycol) acrylate-co-acrylic acid) (P(DEGEA-co-AA)-b-PEO-b-P(DEGEA-co-AA)). The block copolymer was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization of DEGEA and tert-butyl acrylate with a molar ratio of 100:5 from a difunctional PEO macroinitiator and subsequent removal of tert-butyl groups using trifluoroacetic acid.

Thermosensitive aqueous gels with tunable sol-gel transition temperatures from thermo- and pH-responsive hydrophilic ABA triblock copolymer.

This article reports on the synthesis of a well-defined hydrophilic ABA triblock copolymer composed of a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) middle block and thermo- and pH-sensitive outer blocks and the study of sol-gel transitions of its aqueous solutions at various pH values. The doubly responsive linear triblock copolymer, poly(methoxydi(ethylene glycol) methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid)-b-PEO-b-poly(methoxydi(ethylene glycol) methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid) (P(DEGMMA-co-MAA)-b-PEO-b-P(DEGMMA-co-MAA)), was prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization of a mixture of DEGMMA and tert-butyl methacrylate with a molar ratio of 100: 5 from a difunctional PEO macroinitiator and subsequent removal of tert-butyl groups using trifluoroacetic acid. Dynamic light scattering studies showed that the critical micellization temperature (CMT) of this ABA triblock copolymer in a 0.