title: Salt-induced aggregation of polyelectrolyte-amphiphilic dendron complexes in THF solutions.
abstract: Complexes were prepared by complexing amphiphilic dendrons (first, second, and third generations) with an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte through ionic interaction. Their chemical structure can be confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and elemental analysis (EA). All of the complexes were investigated with respect to their aggregation behavior. Under the inducement of salt addition in THF, they showed interesting self-assembly behavior, forming micelles and vesicles depending on the amount of the salt. The formation of these self-assemblies has been proven by dynamic light scattering (DLS), static light scattering (SLS), and electron microscopy (EM) as well as atomic force microscopy (AFM). Dilution experiments showed that the formed vesicles have good stability against dilution as well as polyelectrolyte behavior. The formation of micelle and vesicle aggregates described in this article is probably based on the entropy effect and the shape transformation of building blocks caused by salt addition.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials and Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Xinjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yongliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Sreenath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolisetty
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ballauff