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Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
Published on: February 7, 2017
Temporal and Triggered Evolution of Host-Guest Characteristics in Amphiphilic Polymer Assemblies
Poornima Rangadurai1, Mijanur Rahaman Molla1, Priyaa Prasad1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts , 710 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9336, United States.
Abstract:
An amphiphilic polymer with cleavable side chain and main chain functional groups has been designed and synthesized. Specific cleavage of either of its functional groups was found to have an effect on the morphology of the assembly. Degradation of the main chain is shown to cause morphology of the supramolecular assembly to evolve with time from a micelle-like assembly to a vesicular assembly. On the other hand, stimulus-induced cleavage of the side chains causes these nanoassemblies to disassemble. These temporal (main chain) and triggered (side chain) degradation processes have implications in the design of degradable polymers as supramolecular scaffolds for biological applications.
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