A series of polycaprolactones (PCLs) with molecular weights 950–10,100 g mol?1 and Ð 1.10–1.87 have been synthesized via one-pot, solvent-free ring-opening polymerization (ROP) ?-caprolactone (CL) using a heterogeneous double metal cyanide (DMC) catalyst. Various initiators, such as polypropylene glycol, ethylene propylene glycerol, sorbitol, are employed to tune the number hydroxyl end groups ...

Introduction Pluronics, a family of poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) triblock copolymers, are of considerable interest in the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry for their unique surfactant abilities, low toxicity, and minimal immune response.1 Aqueous solutions of Pluronic copolymers exhibit interesting temperatureinduced aggregation phenome...

The drying of hydrogel films formed by poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO) block copolymers (Pluronic P105 and Pluronic L64) is investigated at various air relative humidity (RH) conditions in the range 11-94%. These amphiphilic block copolymers self-assemble to form a variety of ordered (lyotropic liquid crystalline) structures as the water content decreases. The amount of wat...

– We investigate the aggregation number and size distributions for inter-molecular clusters of amphiphilic diblock and triblock copolymers in poor solvent at very low concentrations. Diblocks and triblocks with hydrophilic ends are shown to possess narrow distributions corresponding to formation of monodispersed mesoglobules. Diblocks with hydrophobic ends are found to produce inter-cluster mul...