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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Temperature-driven self-assembly of self-limiting uniform supraparticles from non-uniform unimolecular micelles
Agustín S Picco1, Basit Yameen2, Wolfgang Knoll3
1Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), CONICET, CC. 16 Suc. 4, 1900 La Plata, Argentina.
Abstract:
In this work, the self-assembly of non-uniform unimolecular micelles constituted of a hyperbranched polyester core decorated with a corona of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) chains has been studied. As revealed by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), these unimicelles form uniform supraparticles through a thermally-induced self-limited process, as well as exhibit molecular features commonly observed in PNIPAm-based gels. We believe that these results provide new insights into the application of stimuli-responsive polymeric materials as versatile building blocks to build up soft supraparticles displaying well-defined dimensional characteristics.
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