Direct optical observations of vesicular self-assembly in large-scale polymeric structures during photocontrolled biphasic polymerization

In this report, we employ a photo-controlled polymerization protocol featuring a fluorescent initiator to follow the evolution of the generated self-assembled microscopic structures in a phase-separating dispersion polymerization medium. We observe the growth of polymer vesicles with final diameters...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymer chemistry 2016-01, Vol.7 (47), p.7211-7215
Main Authors: Szymański, Jan K., Pérez-Mercader, Juan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Evolution
Fluorescence
Illumination
Optical microscopes
Photoinitiators
Polymerization
Self assembly
Vesicles
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this report, we employ a photo-controlled polymerization protocol featuring a fluorescent initiator to follow the evolution of the generated self-assembled microscopic structures in a phase-separating dispersion polymerization medium. We observe the growth of polymer vesicles with final diameters of tens of microns. The formed structures respond to illumination with visible light at the absorbance maximum of the photoinitiator, demonstrating that the reaction mixture remains active even after transferring to an optical microscope slide and that the “blebbing” of vesicles and their growth continue until a mature size is reached.
ISSN:1759-9954
1759-9962
DOI:10.1039/C6PY01497F