The goal of this thesis was to synthesize two poly(lactic acid)-co-poly(ethylene glycol) biodegradable amphiphilic block copolymers that can self-assemble in an aqueous environment into a micellar morphology. Also, the physicochemical characteristics of both the copolymers and resultant micelles were studied using a variety of chemical characterization techniques to gain insight into the factors that are important in the formation and function of the micelles. Two copolymers were synthesized which had different sizes and relative block lengths. These copolymers were characterized using NMR spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography and thermogravimetric analysis. With these two polymers the self-assembly conditions which lead to the most narrow size distribution as determined by dynamic light scattering, were found and micelles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and through the partitioning of pyrene between the core of the micelles and water. Finally, an investigation of the time scales of micelle degradation was performed by monitoring a solution of micelles over an extended period of time.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.101129 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Godbout, Chris. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Chemistry.) |
| Rights | © Chris Godbout, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002590755, proquestno: AAIMR32708, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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