Synthesis and characterization of pH sensitive poly(glycidol)‐b‐poly(4‐vinylpyridine) block copolymers

Abstract Block copolymers of poly(glycidol)‐ b ‐poly( 4 ‐vinylpyridine) were obtained by ATRP of 4‐vinylpyridine initiated by ω‐(2‐chloropropionyl) poly(glycidol) macroinitiators. By changing the monomer/macroinitiator ratio in the synthesis polymers with varied P4VP/PGl molar ratio were obtained. The obtained block copolymers showed pH sensitive solubility. It was found that the linkage of a hydrophilic poly(glycidol) block to a P4VP influenced the p K a value of P4VP. DLS measurements showed the formation of fully collapsed aggregates exceeding pH 4.7. Above this pH values the collapsed P4VP core of the aggregates was stabilized by a surrounding hydrophilic poly(glycidol) corona. The size of the aggregates depended significantly upon the composition of the block copolymers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 1782–1794, 2009