Synthesis of Oxazoline/Methacrylate-Based Graft-Copolymers Via Grafting-Through Method and Evaluation of Their Self-Assembly in Water and Dodecane

Well-defined graft-copolymers of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline)methacrylate macromonomer (PEtOxMM), n-butyl methacrylate, and n-lauryl methacrylate were synthesized via the grafting-through method. The effect of composition on the thermal properties and solution behavior was investigated. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis showed little dependency of the thermal properties on the terpolymer composition, while the solution properties were found to be strongly dependent. Varying the PEtOxMM content, the resulting graft- copolymers were found to be soluble in water or n-dodecane. A thermoresponsive behavior was observed only for the graft-copolymers in water, as shown by turbidity measurements and dynamic light scattering analysis. Small-angle X-ray scattering measurements at different temperatures were performed to investigate the self-assembly behavior of the graft-copolymers in both n-dodecane and water. A range of temperature-triggered morphological transitions was observed in both solvents depending on the graft-copolymer composition. These graft-copolymers were able to self-assemble into different morphologies in both n-dodecane and water, exhibiting a high temperature stability.