No description available.

Phosphonium ions readily compare to ammonium ions in regards to their aggregate characteristics, thermal stability, and antibacterial activity. Ionic aggregation in phosphonium-based polymers provides thermoreversible crosslinks, ideal for reversible self-assembly, self-healing, and smart response. In polymers, these ionic functionalities aggregate, providing improved moduli, and altering the size and structure of ionic aggregates regulates polymer melt processability. This dissertation highlights phosphonium-based chemistry for the synthesis of novel step-growth ionomers and structure-property relationships in ionic polymers. The synthesis of phosphonium endcapping reagents for melt polyester reactions afforded a thermally stable ionic functionality that controlled molecular weight. Weak association was present with phosphonium ions at low ion concentrations below 7.7 mole %. The use of novel ionic bisacetoacetate monomers in the formation of networks from Michael addition reactions led to the synthesis of ionic networks with increased and broadened glass transitions and improved tensile stresses at break and strains at break compared to those in the non-ionic networks. The first electrospun fibers from Michael addition crosslinking reactions are reported, and equilibrium ionic liquid uptake experimental results indicated that ionic functional networks absorb close to three times the amount of ionic liquid as non-ionic, poly(ethylene glycol)-based films. Chain-extending polyurethanes with a phosphonium diol and subsequently varying the hard segment content led to changes in ionic aggregation, crystallinity, and thermal transitions in the polymers. Additionally, novel phosphonium-based methacrylate monomers incorporated into diblock copolymers with styrene exhibited microphase separation. Overall, the inclusion of phosphonium ions pendant to or in the main chain of various types of polymers led to changes in morphology, improved tensile properties, enhanced moduli, broadened transitions, changes in crystalline melting points, changes in solubility, and appearance of ionic aggregation. / Ph. D.

Block copolymers can self-assemble into a variety of periodic nanostructures and therefore, are promising candidates for a diverse range of applications. While self-assembly of block copolymers has been widely studied and exploited, graft copolymers have remained far less explored in this context. One of the primary reasons for this is that the most commonly used methods to prepare graft copolymers leads to polymers that do not have precisely defined structures; specifically, controlling the precise location of the grafted segments is a synthetically difficult challenge. In typical chain polymerization processes, statistically random incorporation of monomers takes place and consequently, the periodicity of the grafted segment along the backbone is very difficult to control precisely; therefore, such methods cannot be utilized to prepare periodically grafted copolymers. Some recent efforts towards the preparation of sequence regulated copolymers using controlled radical polymerization in conjunction with periodic dosing of a commoner could provide an alternative to better regulate the periodicity, although this will also not be perfectly periodic. The only approach to control the periodicity perfectly is to utilize condensation polymerization approaches, wherein one of the monomers serve as a spacer whereas the other provides the opportunity to install the graft segment, as depicted in Scheme 1. One of the earliest examples of the utilization of a condensation approach to locate desired units at periodic intervals was reported by Wagener and co-workers using Acrylic Diene Metathesis (ADMET) process.1 ]n periodicity ]n graft segment Scheme 1. Synthetic scheme for the preparation of periodically grafted copolymers using condensation polymerization. From our lab, Roy et al. developed periodically grafted amphiphilic copolymers (PGAC), based on a readily available starting material, diethyl malonate;2 melt trans-esterification between diethyl malonate, containing a pendant hexaethylene glycol monomethyl ether (HEG) segment and 1,22-docosane diol resulted in PGAC wherein the hydrophilic oligo ethylene glycol units were placed on every 27th atom along the backbone (Scheme 2). Such PGAC underwent self-segregation and adopted a folded zigzag conformation, which was driven by the intrinsic immiscibility of the alkylene and HEG segments and was reinforced by the strong tendency for long chain alkylene segments to crystallize in a paraffinic lattice. However, one of the drawbacks of the above approach was that the hydrophilic pendant unit was installed at the monomer stage and consequently, the synthetic approach does not allow easy variation of the hydrophilic grafted segment; this limits the flexibility and any structural variation of the pendant segment would be synthetically tedious. 150 oC DBTDL 5 20 DBTDL = Dibutyltin dilaurate Scheme 2. Synthesis of PGAC, based on diethyl malonate, and immiscibility-driven folding of such PGACs. Mandal et al. developed a more general strategy for the synthesis of such periodically grafted systems; they prepared periodically clickable polyesters carrying propargyl groups at regular intervals, by the solution polycondensation of 2-propargyl-1,3-propanediol or 2,2-dipropargyl-1,3-propanediol and the acid chloride of 1,20-eicosanedioic acid. Such periodically clickable polyesters were shown to react quantitatively with a fluoroalkyl azide3 and PEG 350 azide4, thus allowing them to place different kinds of functionalities precisely along the backbone, as shown in Scheme 3. The immiscibility of the alkylene and fluoroalkyl/PEG segments caused the polymer chains to fold in a zigzag fashion, thereby facilitating the segregation of these segments, as observed earlier in the study by Roy et al.2 The objective of this study was to place various desired functionalities along the polymer backbone and examine their effect on the self-assembly behaviour and morphology of such periodically clicked systems. Scheme 3. Synthetic scheme for the generation of periodically clickable polyesters and their subsequent functionalization via Cu-catalysed click chemistry. In Chapter 2, we describe an alternative general strategy for the scalable synthesis of periodically graftable polyesters and their subsequent functionalization to generate a wide variety of periodically grafted systems. The importance of our approach lies in our choice of the monomer, which is based on itaconic acid, an inexpensive and bio-sourced molecule. We demonstrated that dibutyl itaconate can be melt-condensed with aliphatic diols to generate unsaturated polyesters (Scheme 4); importantly, we showed that the double bonds in the itaconate moiety remain unaffected during the melt polymerization. A particularly useful attribute of these polyesters is that the exo-chain double bonds are conjugated to the ester carbonyl and therefore, can serve as excellent Michael acceptors. A variety of organic thiols, such as alkane thiols, MPEG thiol, thioglycerol, derivative cysteine etc., were shown to quantitatively Michael-add to the exo-chain double bonds and generate interesting functionalized polyesters; similarly, organic amines, such as N-methylbenzylamine, diallyl amine and proline also underwent Michael addition across the double bond (Scheme 4). Thus, such poly(alkylene itaconate)s could be utilized to place diverse functionalities at regular intervals along the polymer backbone. Scheme 4. Preparation of periodically graftable polyesters, based on itaconic acid, and their subsequent modification by Michael addition. In Chapter 3, we examined a series of periodically grafted polyesters carrying long crystallizable alkylene (C-20) segments along the backbone and pendant polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (MPEG) segments grafted at periodic intervals. Such periodically grafted amphiphilic copolymers (PGAC) having MPEG graft segments of varying lengths were prepared by utilizing the activated exo-chain double bonds in poly(icosyl itaconate) (PII) that carries a 20-carbon alkylene segment; MPEG thiols of varying lengths (TREG, 350, 550 and 750) were quantitatively grafted under standard Michael addition conditions to yield the required graft copolymers, as shown in Scheme 5. Scheme 5. Synthesis of a series of periodically grafted amphiphilic copolymers (PGAC) utilizing post-polymerization modification via Michael addition with MPEG thiols of varying lengths. The immiscibility of the backbone alkylene and pendant MPEG segments, and the strong propensity of the alkylene segments to crystallize in a paraffinic lattice, drive these systems to fold in a zigzag fashion and subsequently organize into a lamellar morphology, as shown in Scheme 6. Interestingly, all the graft copolymers exhibited a clear and invariant melting transition at ~44°C that suggested the crystallization of the backbone C-20 segment; the MPEG segments were, however, amorphous except in the case of polymers carrying MPEG 550/MPEG-750 segments, wherein a second melting transition corresponding to the independent crystallization of the PEG segment was also seen. SAXS studies indicated that all of the samples exhibited lamellar morphologies wherein more importantly, the inter-lamellar spacing was seen to increase linearly with the MPEG length (Scheme 6). This study provides a new design for controlling the dimensions of the microphase-separated nanostructures at significantly smaller length scales (sub-10 nm) than is typically possible using block copolymers. Scheme 6. Schematic representation of formation of lamellar morphology in PGACs and control of interlamellar spacing in such systems. In order to understand the influence of having a mixture of MPEG lengths on the self-assembled morphology, in Chapter 4 we prepared a series of PGACs by co-grafting the parent poly(icosyl itaconate) with a mixture of two different MPEG thiols, namely MPEG-350 and MPEG-750; the mole-ratios of these two PEGs were varied to generate co-grafted PGACs, carrying different amounts of the two MPEG segments randomly distributed along the chain (Scheme 7). Parallely, we also examined the behaviour of physical mixtures of two different PGACs, one bearing MPEG-350 and the other MPEG-750 grafts; keeping the total MPEG content constant, we sought to examine the differences in the behaviour of randomly co-grafted polymers and physical mixtures. Scheme 7. Preparation of co-grafted PGACs and physical mixtures of two different PGACs. The co-grafted PGACs also exhibited a lamellar morphology; interestingly, the inter- lamellar spacing increased linearly with the total volume of PEG domain. This suggested that despite the presence of MPEG segments of two different lengths in the co-grafted samples, there occurred a reorganization of the PEG chains within the amorphous domain ensuring that the condition of incompressibility is not violated, thereby giving rise to a weighted average interlamellar spacing, as shown in Scheme 8. In contrast, the SAXS patterns of the physical mixtures revealed the presence of two distinct lamellar domains in the sample; this indicated that the two homo-grafted samples do not mix and form separate lamellar domains. The self- segregation induced folding and subsequent crystallization of the central alkylene segments clearly appeared to dominate the final morphology. Scheme 8. Schematic depiction of the possible scenarios that could arise when MPEG segments of two different lengths, namely MPEG350 and MPEG750, are present in the PGACs; top panel depicts the co-grafted PGACs, whereas the bottom panel shows the case of mixtures of PGACs with two different MPEG lengths. In Chapter 5, we have dealt with the design and synthesis of chain-end functionalizable polyalkylene itaconates. Changing the monomer from dibutyl itaconate to dipropargyl itaconate and using it in controlled excess allowed us to generate chain-end functionalizable polymers containing propargyl groups at the chain ends, in addition to the exo-chain double bonds along the backbone, thereby providing the opportunity for orthogonal functionalization. In order to obtain three different telechelic polymers with target DPs (degree of polymerization) of 5, 10 and 20 respectively, 3 different mole ratios of the two monomers (dipropargyl itaconate and 1,20-eicosanediol) were used (Scheme 9). Scheme 9. Synthetic scheme for the generation of chain-end functionalizable polyalkylene itaconates. Orthogonal functionalization of the resultant polymers was carried out using thiol-Michael addition and Cu(I)-catalysed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (AAC), without interference between the functional handles present along the polymer backbone and the chain-end, respectively. Michael addition with triethylene glycol thiol and subsequent Cu-catalysed click reaction with MPEG 750 azide led to the generation of ABA type triblock copolymers where the middle block is a periodically grafted amphiphilic block and the two linear end blocks are hydrophilic in nature. Furthermore, such propargyl-terminated polyalkylene itaconates were used as macromonomers to prepare multiblock copolymers. The telechelic polymers were first treated with PEG 600 diazide, resulting in the formation of alternating multiblock copolymers; these multiblock copolymers were further reacted with thioglycerol to generate amphiphilic multiblock copolymers where one of the blocks is a periodically functionalized amphiphilc block, as depicted in Scheme 10. In both these amphiphilic block copolymer systems, a key feature is that the periodically functionalized amphiphilic block folds into a zigzag form, as evident from the presence of a nearly invariant melting peak corresponding to the crystallization of the alkylene segment. Scheme 10. Preparation of multiblock copolymers utilizing propargyl-terminated polyalkylene itaconates as a macromonomer. In summary, the thesis has demonstrated the design and synthesis of a series of novel amphiphilic copolymers using a bio-sourced monomer, wherein the driving theme is the immiscibility driven self-segregation that leads to the folding of the chain; these have been thoroughly examined using DSC, SAXS, WAXS, variable temperature FT-IR and AFM measurements. References (1) Berda, E. B.; Lande, R. E.; Wagener, K. B. Macromolecules 2007, 40, 8547. (2) Roy, R. K.; Gowd, E. B.; Ramakrishnan, S. Macromolecules 2012, 45, 3063. (3) Mandal, J.; Krishna Prasad, S.; Rao, D. S. S.; Ramakrishnan, S. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2014, 136, 2538. (4) Mandal, J.; Ramakrishnan, S. Langmuir 2015, 31, 6035.

In the theoretical part of this thesis are described the synthesis, properties and mechanism of biodegradation of aliphatic polymers - polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid and their copolymer PLGA. There are also discussed the possibilities of modifying the properties, such as block copolymer PEG-PLGA synthesis. Summary informations concerning the production and use of biodegradable polymers are also shortly described. The aim of the experimental part was to observe the effect of PLGA polymer matrix size and ionic strength of the aqueous medium on the polymer swelling and erosion. Samples with weight 150 mg and 1000 mg were placed into 37 řC citrate buffer with pH 6. Each of the used mediums had various concentration c [0; 0,125; 0,25; 0,5; 1]. Measurement was carried out in period of 28 days. Values of degree of swelling and of erosion were measured. The pulsion behavior of swelling in both sample sizes was confirmed. However, the sample size has a strong impact on the rate and extent of swelling. It was demonstrated that larger samples disintegrate faster which is explained by a higher rate of autocatalysis within the polymer matrix. The results demonstrated also the effect of ionic strength on erosion when isotonic solution suppressed erosion rate.

Farmaceutická fakulta, Katedra farmaceutické technologie, Hradec Králové, 2014 Vypracovala: Markéta Valentová Školitel: Doc. RNDr. Milan Dittrich, CSc. ABSTRACT STUDY OF POLYESTER DRUG CARRIERS DEGRADATION USING THE DSC METHOD The aim of this work was focused on the study of relations among various parameters of degradation process, such as time-dependent range of glass transition temperature, swelling, erosion, and molar weight decrease. Two model polyesters of two type architectures of polyester molecules were used and monitored during two-week period. In the theoretical part of this diploma thesis are in details described biopolymers with stimulus responsive activity and exploitation of these materials in various biomedical applications in the topic of tissue engineering. The experimental part of this work is directed into the study of molecule degradation parameters, eventually into simulated biodegradation in the in vitro conditions of two different in the type polyesters with the contrast polyester molecule constitution. It was demonstrated that parameter Mn decreases towards the limit values. Between the values of molar weight and glass transition temperature is not Flory-Fox relation in the advanced phase of degradation process. The erosion of the material begins after the lag-time in the dependency...

Die vorliegende Arbeit liefert einen Beitrag zum Verständnis der komplexen Struktur-/Eigenschaftsbeziehungen dünner Schichten hochverzweigter Polyester. Für die umfassende Charakterisierung wurde eine Vielzahl analytischer Methoden kombiniert. Des Weiteren wurde das Anwendungspotential dieser Schichten hinsichtlich möglicher Sensoranwendung anhand der Adsorption von Modellproteinen gewichtet. Dazu war es notwendig verschieden Methoden zur Stabilisierung dieser Schichten zu entwickeln.

<p>Cross-linked films of ε-caprolactone (CL) and 1,5-dioxepan-2-one (DXO) having various mole fractions of monomers and different cross-link densities were prepared using 2,2’-bis-(-caprolactone-4-yl) propane (BCP) as cross-linking agent and Sn(Oct)2 as catalyst. Reaction parameters were examined to optimize the film-forming conditions. Networks obtained were elastomeric materials, easy to cast and remove from the mould. Effect of CL content and cross-link density on the final properties of the polymer network was evaluated. Thermal, mechanical and surface properties of the films were controlled by monomer feed composition and cross-link density. The films have potential to be used for tissue engineering applications as shown by preliminary cell growth studies. To avoid organometallic catalysts in the synthesis of poly(1,5-dioxepan-2-one) (PDXO), the enzyme-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of DXO was performed with lipase-CA (derived from Candida antarctica) as a biocatalyst. A linear relationship between number-average molecular weight (Mn) and monomer conversion was observed, which suggested that the product molecular weight can be controlled by the stoichiometry of the reactants. The monomer consumption followed a first-order rate law with respect to monomer and no chain termination occurred. Effect of reaction water content, enzyme concentration and polymerization temperature on monomer conversion and polymer properties was studied. An initial activation by heating the enzyme was sufficient to start the polymerization as monomer conversion occurred at room temperature afterwards. Terminal-functionalized polyesters and tri-block polyesters were synthesized by lipase-CA catalyzed ROP of DXO and CL in the presence of an appropriate alcohol as initiator. Alcohol bearing unsaturation introduced a double bond at the chain end of the polyester, which is a useful pathway to synthesize comb polymers. Dihydroxyl compounds were used as macro-initiators to form tri-block polyesters. The enzyme-catalyzed polymerization of lactones has been shown to be a useful method to synthesize metal-free polyesters.</p>

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are polyesters composed of (R)-3-hydroxy-fatty acids. A variety of gram-positive as well as gram-negative bacteria and some archaea are able to produce these biopolymers as energy and carbon storage materials. In times of unbalanced growth, when carbon is available in excess but other nutrients are limited, PHA inclusions are formed. These granules are water-insoluble, stored intracellularly and can be maintained outside the cell as beads. The key enzyme for the formation of PHA inclusions is the PHA synthase PhaC, which catalyses the polymerization of (R)- 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA to PHA with the concomitant release of CoA. The PHA synthase from Ralstonia eutropha (currently Cupriavidus necator), which is covalently bound to the PHA granule surface, tolerates fusions to its N terminus without loss of activity. In this study it was investigated if it would also tolerate translational fusions to its C terminus. A specially designed linker was employed, aiming at maintaining the hydrophobic surroundings of the R. eutropha synthase C terminus to allow proper folding and activity. Two reporter proteins were tested as fusion partners, the maltose binding protein MalE and the green fluorescent protein GFP. As GFP is a hydrophobic protein itself, no additional linker between the PHA synthase and the reporter protein was necessary to produce PHA granules displaying the functional fusion protein on the surface. Principally, the PHA synthase PhaC tolerates translational fusions to its C terminus but the nature of the fusion partner influences the functionality. Recently, PHA granules have often been acknowledged as bio-beads. A one-step production allows the formation of functionalised beads without the need for further cross-linking to impart desired surface properties. PHA beads displaying a gold- or silica-binding peptide at the N terminus of PhaC were constructed and tested for their applicability. Additionally, these beads were able to bind IgG due to the ZZ domain of the IgG binding protein A, which was employed as a linker sequence. These functionalised beads can be used as molecular tools in bioimaging and biomedicine, combining organic core with inorganic-binding shell structures. In a different biomimetic approach, the display of ten lysine residues at the granule surface was achieved using the phasin protein PhaP as the anchoring matrix. Extensive work was performed in an attempt to also employ the synthase protein, but was unsuccessful. These positively charged bio-beads can be used for dispersion or crosslinking experiments as well as silica binding.

No description available.

O presente estudo tem como objetivo desenvolver e avaliar métodos de confecção de mantas híbridas de fibras curtas de vidro e sisal visando as necessidades da indústria automotiva na produção de componentes com menor custo e menor massa específica. Neste trabalho foram moldados por compressão compósitos de resina poliéster reforçados por mantas (25% em volume) de fibra de vidro/sisal, híbridas e isoladas. Foram desenvolvidos quatro métodos de confecção de mantas: Manual (disposição manual de fibras), Água (disposição de fibras em fase aquosa), Leito-ar (arranjo de fibras via leito fluidizado) e Vibracional (deposição de fibras em meio vibracional). De modo a comparar condições foram utilizados mais dois métodos variantes: Manual-lav (deposição manual de fibras fibra de vidro lavada) e Etanol (deposição de fibras em fase etílica). O trabalho foi dividido em rotas de ensaios onde inicialmente utilizou-se apenas a fibra de sisal de modo a obter comprimento e tratamento ideais para esta fibra. Nas demais rotas variou-se o teor de fibra de vidro incorporada (0, 25, 50, 75 e 100% e seu complemento em sisal) até a escolha de uma composição. Os compósitos produzidos pelos diferentes métodos foram avaliados através de análises de propriedades físicas (massa específica, absorção de umidade e teor de vazios) e propriedades mecânicas (resistência à tração, módulo de elasticidade e resistência ao impacto). A morfologia dos compósitos foi analisada via SEM (microscopia eletrônica de varredura). Os resultados indicaram o tratamento de água destilada para as fibras de sisal e um comprimento ideal de fibra de 3 cm. Mostraram também que a água destilada e o etanol afetam a superfície da fibra de vidro podendo remover partículas e substâncias. Compósitos com teor de 50% de fibra de vidro demonstraram propriedades mecânicas superiores as dos compósitos reforçados apenas com sisal puro, porém com menor custo e massa específica que os compósitos contendo 100% de fibra de vidro. A análise dos diferentes métodos demonstrou que os métodos Manual e Leito-ar produziram compósitos com melhores propriedades mecânicas. Contudo, método Leito-ar é o mais indicado para futuras aplicações industriais. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-22T19:33:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Cristiane Aurelia Borges Vieira.pdf: 3871122 bytes, checksum: a05f3bff78a211139b1c7fc4feb77b63 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-22T19:33:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Cristiane Aurelia Borges Vieira.pdf: 3871122 bytes, checksum: a05f3bff78a211139b1c7fc4feb77b63 (MD5) / This work is focused at development and evaluation of confection methods of short fibers hybrid mants aiming attend the necessities of automobile industry in the production of small parts with smaller cost and specific weight. Were developed different methods in the confection of hybrids mants from short fibers: manual deposition of the fibers, watery phase deposition of the fibers, fibers arrangement by stream bed fluidized and deposition of the fibers by vibrational method. The analysis of the methods was provided by evaluation of the processed composites. The first part of the work consisted in the appraising of hybrid composites with 0, 25, 50, 75 e 100% of fiber glass and the remained in sisal. The analysis of the results showed, for 50% content, higher mechanical properties comparing to the composites reforced only with sisal, however with lower cost and specific weight than composites with 100% of fiber glass. The composites maded by different methods were estimated in relation to physical properties (specific weight, water absorption and void content) and mechanical properties (tensile strength, elasticity modulus and impact resistance). The morfology of the composites was analyzed by SEM (scanning electronic microscopy). The results showed that the 3 cm length is ideal for the procedure utilizated. The sisal fibers washed in distilled water had shown, in general, superior performance than fibers in natura or chemically treated. It was noted that the increasing of fiber glass in the hybrids composites results in the strengthening of the mechanical properties of the composites, however the sisal increment in the composition reduced the specific weight of the final product. The analysis of the diferent methods showed that the manual deposition of the fibers and fibers arrangement by stream bed fluidized were the methods that manufactured composites with the best mechanical properties. The method of deposition by stream bed fluidized can be applied in the confecction of hybrids mants with short fibers for different types of naturals and synthetic fibers and your implementation is easy and of low cost using the compressed air installation existing in industry.