Direct synthesis of thermally responsive DMA/NIPAM diblock and DMA/NIPAM/DMA triblock copolymers via aqueous, room temperature RAFT polymerization

We report aqueous, room temperature RAFT polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and, subsequently, its block copolymerization utilizing a poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) macro-CTA. A series of thermally responsive AB diblock and ABA triblock copolymers have been prepared. These polymers contain hydrophilic N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA) A blocks of fixed molecular weight and temperature-responsive NIPAM B blocks of varied chain length. Using a combination of ¹H NMR spectroscopy, T ₂ relaxation measurements, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and static light scattering (SLS), we demonstrate that these block copolymers are indeed capable of reversibly forming micelles in response to changes in solution temperature and that the micellar size and transition temperature are dependent on both the NIPAM block length and the polymer architecture (diblock vs triblock).