This thesis present a study of thermo-gelling polycaprolactone (PCL) dispersion which consist of a mixture of PCL microspheres (MSs) and thermo-responsive, graft cationic copolymer. The PCL microspheres are solid or colloidosomes (hollow). This study aims toward an injectable colloidal cell delivery system. The thermo-responsive copolymer used in this study is a new family of cationic graft copolymer. The cationic graft copolymer consisted of cationic poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) backbone and poly 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethyl methacrylate (PMA) side chains. A series of new cationic graft copolymers were synthesized with different PMA arm length and grafting density. A representative copolymer showed good cell viabililty. The solid PCL MSs were prepared using solvent evaporation method. The MSs were mixed with the thermo-responsive graft copolymer. At room temperature the mixture were liquid-like and gelled at body temperature (37 ˚C). This indicates that the mixture systems were injectable. The injectable route offers a minimal invasive route to fill defect void inside the body. Furthermore, a porous morphology was evident for the mixed gels at 37 ˚C and the porosity could be altered using different composition of the mixed components. The mixed system showed self-healing properties for low volume fraction of PMA. The mixed system particle gel was more ductile in electrolyte but showed similar morphology to the mixed system particle gels prepared in water. This part of the study was carried out using PCL MSs prepared by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as surfactant. A brief study using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the surfactant showed that the PCL MSs had similar diameter and gel morphology which suggests that the model systems studied using CTAB may be applicable to the PVA system. Microencapsulation attracts interest due to its ability to deliver and control release actives and also its application in many fields. Colloidosomes are one of the microcapsules/microspheres used for microencapsulation. In this study a two step, facile and scaleable colloidosome preparation method was introduced. The PCL colloidosome shell consisted of partially fused small nanoparticles. The PCL colloidosomes were birefringence under cross polarised light due to the stress applied during solvent evaporation. A brief study showed that the mixture system of colloidosomes and thermo-responsive graft copolymer are able to gel at 37 ˚C.

Orientadores: Leila Peres, Jose Luiz Trochmann / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T03:11:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucente_AnaGlauciaBogalhos_M.pdf: 1102673 bytes, checksum: b3cbcd44fdb8348cba4293d33498fee3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: A redução no uso de compostos orgânicos voláteis (VOC) é uma demanda ambiental constante. Emulsões poliméricas aquosas com baixo conteúdo de surfactantes, produzidas pela síntese de miniemulsão direta são usadas com vantagens como substitutas a emulsões com solventes orgânicos, assim como a emulsões aquosas com altos teores de surfactantes. A água como fase contínua e monômeros orgânicos com baixa solubilidade em água, são usados. Essas emulsões podem ser termodinamicamente ou cineticamente estabilizadas com agentes surfactantes e ou hidrófobos. Na polimerização por radical livre em miniemulsão o sítio orgânico estabilizado atua como um mini-reator, formando uma dispersão polimérica estável. Dependendo da técnica de preparação utilizada e das taxas de conversão, vários diâmetros médios de partículas (Dp) e distribuição de tamanho (DSD) podem ser obtidos. Das várias técnicas de polimerização em emulsão a miniemulsão se destaca, por poder ser estabilizada cineticamente o que permite reduzir o uso de surfactantes em tipo e quantidade aplicadas, onde as gotículas monoméricas podem ser formadas por cisão da fase orgânica ou por fusão de gotículas ainda menores, cineticamente estabilizadas por agentes surfactantes e ou hidrófobos resultando em nanopartículas. O meio aquoso permite altíssimas taxas de transferência de calor e taxas de transferência de massa adequadas para taxas de polimerização moderadas e altas. Nesse trabalho um polímero acrílico com propriedades físicas específicas para o desenvolvimento de materiais aplicados a área odontológica foi a força motriz na obtenção de um copolímero de metacrilato de metila (MMA) e metacrilato de etila (EMA) dada sua razão de reatividade de 1,08 e 0,98 respectivamente, o que teoricamente leva a obtenção de um copolímero estatístico ou aleatório. O efeito da temperatura (50, 60 e 80°C) na conversão global e na cinética da reação, o Dp e a DSD, a temperatura de transição vítrea (Tg) e a temperatura de fusão (Tf) do copolímero obtido foram estudados por meio de análise gravimétrica, espectrometria de espalhamento de laser (LSS) e calorimetria diferencial de varredura (DSC). O material sintetizado a 60ºC foi também caracterizado com as g/mol. Da caracterização realizada (RMN, FTIR e DSC) foi possível concluir que foi obtido como esperado um copolímero, possivelmente do tipo aleatório ou alternado. técnicas de espectrometria de infravermelho, (FTIR), ressonância magnética nuclear (MNR) para a verificação das funções orgânicas e cromatografia de permeação em gel (GPC) na determinação da massa molar média e sua distribuição. A adição de agente hidrófobo e o uso de ultra-som tornaram possível a obtenção de partículas poliméricas tão pequenas quanto 280nm, com polidispersividade de 1,6 e massa molar média de 2,16 x 106 g/mol. Da caracterização realizada (RMN, FTIR e DSC) foi possível concluir que foi obtido como esperado um copolímero, possivelmente do tipo aleatório ou alternado. / Abstract: Reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOC) usage is a constant environmental demand. Polymeric aqueous emulsion of low surfactant contends produced from direct miniemulsion synthesis are used with advantages to replace organic solvents media as well as aqueous emulsions of high surfactant concentration. Water as continuous phase and organic monomers with low solubility in water are used. This emulsion can be thermodynamically or kinetically stabilized by surfactant agents and / or hydrophobic agents. In free radical miniemulsion polymerization the stabilized organic site acts as a reactor, forming a kinetically stable polymeric dispersion. Depending on the emulsion preparation technique and polymerization rates, at the end of polymerization, several mean particle diameters (Dp) and several size particle distributions (DSD) are possible. Among the emulsion polymerization techniques, miniemulsion polymerization stands out, since kinetic stabilization allows to reduce the need for different types and large amounts of surfactants, where the reaction sites are the monomer droplets formed from scission of the monomer phase or by fusion of even smaller droplets, kinetically stabilized by surfactants and hydrophobic agents resulting in nanoparticles. The water media allow outstanding heat transfer rates as well as mass transfer rates that do not interfere in conversion rates from moderate to high. On this work, a methacrylate polymer based with specific physical properties for the development of materials for Dentistry application, drove the choice of the copolymer obtained from methyl methacrylate (MMA) and ethyl methacrylate (EMA) monomers as they reactivity ratios were: 1.08 and 0.98, respectively, which theoretically would allow obtaining a statistical or random copolymer. Polymerization temperature effect (50, 60 and 80oC) on: overall conversion and kinetic reaction, Dp, DSD, glass transition temperature (Tg) and melting temperature (Tf) of the obtained copolymer, were studied using gravimetric analysis, laser spectrometry spreading (LSS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The synthesized copolymer at 60o C was also characterized by Fast Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance analysis (NMR) for verification of copolymer organic functions, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) to determine distribution and mean molar mass. The addition of hydrophobic agent and the use of ultrasound, made possible to obtain volumetric particle diameter as low as 280 nm and polydispersity of 1.60 with average molar mass of 2.16 x 106 g/mol. From the polymer characterization (RMN, FTIR e DSC) it was possible to conclude that a random or alternating copolymer was obtained, as expected. / Mestrado / Ciencia e Tecnologia de Materiais / Mestre em Engenharia Química

Amphiphilic polymers are a class of polymers that self-assemble into different types of microstructure, depending on the solvent environment and external stimuli. Self assembly structures can exist in many different forms, such as spherical micelles, rod-like micelles, bi-layers, vesicles, bi-continuous structure etc. Most biological systems are basically comprised of many of these organised structures arranged in an intelligent manner, which impart functions and life to the system. We have adopted the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) technique to synthesize various types of block copolymer systems that self-assemble into different microstructure when subject to an external stimuli, such as pH or temperature. The systems that we have studied are: (1) pH responsive fullerene (C60) containing poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA-b-C60); (2) pH and temperature responsive fullerene containing poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (C₆₀-b-PDMAEMA); (3) other responsive water-soluble fullerene systems. By varying temperature, pH and salt concentration, different types microstructure can be produced. In the presence of inorganic salts, fractal patterns at nano- to microscopic dimension were observed for negatively charged PMAA-b-C60, while such structure was not observed for positively charged PDMAEMA-b-C60. We demonstrated that negatively charged fullerene containing polymeric systems can serve as excellent nano-templates for the controlled growth of inorganic crystals at the nano- to micrometer length scale and the possible mechanism was proposed. The physical properties and the characteristics of their self-assembly properties will be discussed, and their implications to chemical and biomedical applications will be highlighted. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

In this study, ethyl methacrylate was polymerized by free radical polymerization at 600C, 700C, 800C at open atmosphere / atom transfer radical polymerization, (ATRP), at 800C in vacuum and in gamma irradiation in vacuum. The polymer obtained was white, hard material. The kinetic curves for free radical polymerization and ATRP by gamma radiation were S-type. However, the curve for polymerization by gamma irradiation raises more smoothly. For ATRP by thermal initiation gives a lineer change of conversion with time. It was observed that the molecular weight can be controlled and low molecular weight polymer could be obtained by ATRP method. The characterization of polymers were made by FTIR, DSC, 1H and 13C NMR techniques.

Se sintetizaron nanocompuestos híbridos en bloque de poli(etil metacrilato-co-hidroxietil acrilato) 70/30 wt%/sílice, P(EMA-co-HEA)/SiO2, con distintas proporciones de sílice hasta el 30 wt%. El procedimiento de síntesis consistió en la copolimerización de los monómeros orgánicos durante la polimerización sol-gel simultánea de tetraetoxisilano, TEOS como precursor de sílice. El TEOS se hidroliza eficientemente y condensa dando lugar a sílice, y presenta una distribución homogénea en forma de agregados inconexos de nanopartículas de sílice elementales en los híbridos con bajos contenidos de sílice (<10 wt%) o redes continuas interpenetradas con la red orgánica tras la coalescencia de los agregados de sílice (>10 wt%). La red polimérica orgánica se forma en los poros producidos en el interior de las nanopartículas elementales de sílice, y también en los poros formados entre los agregados de nanopartículas. Los nanohíbridos con contenidos de sílice intermedios (10-20 wt%) exhibieron las propiedades más equilibradas e interesantes: i) refuerzo mecánico de la matriz orgánica conseguida gracias a redes de sílice continuas e interpenetradas, ii) buena capacidad de hinchado debida a la expansión de la red orgánica no impedida todavía por un esqueleto de sílice rígido, y a un número alto de grupos silanol terminales hidrófilos (concentraciones inorgánicas en los alrededores de la coalescencia), y iii) mayor reactividad superficial debido a un contenido relativo bastante elevado de grupos polares silanol terminales disponibles en las superficies. La 'bioactividad' o capacidad de los materiales en bloque de formar hidroxiapatita (HAp) sobre sus superficies fue estudiada in vitro sumergiéndolos en fluido biológico simulado (simulated body fluid, SBF). La formación de la capa de HAp viene controlada por el mecanismo y el tiempo de inducción a la nucleación de la misma, que dependen a su vez de la estructura de la sílice. / Vallés Lluch, A. (2008). P(EMA-co-HEA)/SiO2 hybrid nanocomposites for guided dentin tissue regeneration: structure, characterization and bioactivity [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/3795

<p> Over the past decade, the development of surface-initiated living polymerization methods has brought a breakthrough to surface modification owing to their control ability. Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (si-ATRP), as the most popular one, has been widely employed to give novel polymer structures and functionalities to various surfaces for the purposes of tailoring surface properties, introducing new functions, or preparing so-called "smart surfaces", which can respond to external stimuli such as solvent type, pH, temperature, electric and magnetic fields etc. In this thesis, the mechanistic study of the si-ATRP was first carried out through modeling to gain good understanding of si-ATRP. Si-ATRP was then employed to prepare different types of polymer brushes to produce "smart surfaces". </p> <p> The kinetic model was developed using the method of moment. Combined with experimental data, a quantitative analysis was carried out for the si-ATRP mechanism. All information of grafted polymer chains, including active chain concentration, radical concentration, chain length, polydispersity, was illustrated. A new radical termination mechanism, termed as migration-termination, was proposed for si-ATRP. </p> <p> Si-ATRP was then employed to graft poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate) (POEGMA) block poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) brushes on silicon wafer surfaces. Simple solvent treatment gave nanoscale patterns via the phase segregation of POEGMA and PMMA segments. Various patterns including spherical aggregates, wormlike aggregates, stripe patterns, perforated layers and complete overlayers, were obtained by adjusting the upper block layer thickness. Furthermore, these nanopatterns had a unique stimuli-responsive property, i.e., switching between different morphologies reversibly after being treated with selective solvents. </p> <p> POEGMA-block-poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl trimethylammonium chloride) (PMETAC) brushes, having two hydrophilic segments, were synthesized by si-ATRP method. A variety of nanopatterns and their stimuli-responsive ability were observed. The adsorption behaviors of fibrinogen on these patterns were thoroughly studied by ellipsometry, water contact angel measurement, AFM and radio labelling method. </p> <p> A novel thermo-responsive copolymer, poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate -co-oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate) (P(ME02MA-co-OEGMA)), was also grafted onto silicon wafers. Its thermo-responsive behavior and chain conformation in aqueous solution were studied by neutron reflectometry (NR). Both extended and collapsed brushes exhibited good protein adsorption resistance. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)