Pluronic block copolymers are recognized pharmaceutical excipients listed in the US and British Pharmacopoeia. They have been used extensively in a variety of pharmaceutical formulations including delivery of low molecular mass drugs and polypeptides. This review describes novel applications of Pluronic block copolymers in gene therapy. In particular, these molecules can modify the biological r...

Starch-g-polyacrylonitrile (starch-g-PAN) copolymers were prepared by ceric ammonium nitrate initiation, and the major portion of the starch in these graft copolymers was then removed by acid hydrolysis to yield PAN with oligosaccharide end groups. Although these PAN-oligosaccharide samples reacted with methyl methacrylate in the presence of eerie ammonium nitrate, the resulting products were l...

Various thermally responsive block and graft copolymers based on poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) have been synthesised. Poly(ethyleneoxides) (PEO) with different chain lengths were used as hydrophilic blocks and grafts. The graft copolymers were synthesised in two steps. Firstly, two functional copolymers were prepared by free radical polymerisation of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA) with eithe...

Graft copolymerization of binary vinyl monomers onto mercerized flax fiber was carried out for the enhancement of mechanical properties of polystyrene composites. Binary vinyl monomer mixture of AA+AN has been found to show maximum grafting (33.55%) onto mercerized flax. Graft copolymers thus synthesized were characterized with FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM, and TGA techniques. Mercerized flax (MF) s...

The solid-state structures, thermal properties, and enzymatic degradability of melt-crystallized films of random copolymers of (R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid (3HB) with different hydroxyalkanoic acids were investigated. The crystallinity, lamellar thickness, and spherulite growth rate of copolymers decreased with an increase in the carbon numbers of second monomer units for copolymers with an identi...

The crystallization behaviors of two copolymers of PVDF were studied, and the effect of copolymerized chains on the crystallization behavior was investigated. The results indicated that both copolymers had a lowered crystallization temperature and crystallinity. The crystallization rate was improved by the copolymer with symmetrical units in PVDF chains, but hindered by asymmetrical units, comp...

We describe an isomerization-alternating ROMP protocol that gives linear copolymers with rigorous sequence alternation. Bicyclo[4.2.0]oct-7-ene-7-carboxamides of primary amines are isomerized in the presence of (3-BrPyr)2Cl2(H2IMes)Ru=CHPh to the corresponding bicyclo[4.2.0]oct-1(8)-ene-8-carboxamides in which the olefinic bond is tetrasubstituted. The isomerized amides undergo alternating ring...

Azobenzene-functionalized ABA triblock copolymers with controlled molecular weights are prepared first via a sequential ring-opening metathesis polymerization and acyclic diene metathesis polymerization in one-pot, which are readily converted, by a facile esterification, to the modified ABA triblock copolymers. Then, these reactive triblock copolymers can spontaneously self-assemble in a select...

Triblock, diblock and random copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide) are used as molecular templates in poly(methyl silsesquioxane) (MSQ) matrices to fabricate ultra low-k dielectric materials (kp2:0). Solidstate NMR shows that polymer architecture plays an important role in the polymer domain size and the polymer– matrix interface in the nanocomposites. Positronium annihil...

Sequential diblock copolymers composed of G and D-lactic acid residues were synthesized through a living ring-opening polymerization of t and D-lactide initiated by aluminium tris(2-propanolate). The composition of the block copolymers was varied by changing the reaction conditions and monomer over initiator ratio and confi ied by 'H NMR analysis, molecular weight determination and optical rota...