Preparation of polymeric nanoparticles using a new polymerizable surfactant

Abstract

A novel polymerizable surfactant (so-called surfmer) was synthesized and characterized according to its structure, surface activity and polymerization ability. Polymeric micelles (size of 6 and 130 nm) appeared in the polyreaction initiated by free radicals from VA-044. In the presence of the monomer (i. e., methyl methacrylate) microemulsion systems were formed that in turn were transformed into latex entities (size - 40 nm). Additionally, an emulsion polymerization was performed with the use of n-hexadecane as an oil phase resulting in the production of nanocapsules (size in the range - 165-220 nm). The shape and morphologies of the nanoobjects were confirmed using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). © 2011 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Wien.