Amphiphilic photo-induced triblock polyoxazoline through coumarin dimerization: Efficient synthetic tool for nanoparticles

Abstract

Amphiphilic photo-induced triblock copolymers were successfully prepared by photo-dimerization of a photo-active initiator bearing coumarin moieties (CmTs2) before synthesizing, by cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP), various lengths of polyoxazoline block. The DLS and TEM studies of the triblock copolymers self-assembly in water revealed that over 99% of the nanoparticles have a DH-value of 10 nm. The total photo-activity of the coumarin units permitted π-stacking interactions in the nanoparticle core and further its crystallization as demonstrated by DSC and X-ray diffractometry. An original non-spherical morphology of the nanoparticles resulted with an elongated shape.