Controlled Synthesis and Fluorescence Tracking of Highly Uniform Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Microgels.
Stimuli-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgels have various prospective practical applications and uses in fundamental research. In this work, we use single particle tracking of fluorescently labeled PNIPAM microgels as a showcase for tuning microgel size by a rapid non-stirred precipitation polymerization procedure. This approach is well suited for prototyping new reaction compositions and conditions or for applications that do not require large amounts of product. Microgel synthesis, particle size and structure determination by dynamic and static light scattering are detailed in the protocol. It is shown that the addition of functional comonomers can have a large influence on the particle nucleation and structure. Single particle tracking by wide-field fluorescence microscopy allows for an investigation of the diffusion of labeled tracer microgels in a concentrated matrix of non-labeled microgels, a system not easily investigated by other methods such as dynamic light scattering.
Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University.
Otto L J
OL
Virtanen
Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University.
Ashvini
A
Purohit
Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University.
Monia
M
Brugnoni
Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University.
Dominik
D
Wöll
Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University; richtering@rwth-aachen.de.
Walter
W
Richtering
D000180:Acrylic Resins; D005782:Gels; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010316:Particle Size; D058105:Polymerization; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013696:Temperature; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
D000180:Acrylic Resins; D005782:Gels; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2014 Dec;90(6):062305
25615091
Biophys J. 2001 Oct;81(4):2378-88
11566807
Rep Prog Phys. 2014 May;77(5):056601
24801604
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2015 Jan;91(1):012302
25679618
Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct. 1997;26:373-99
9241424
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2013 Jan 7;52(2):576-9
23184415
Soft Matter. 2014 Nov 7;10(41):8288-95
25192016
Biomacromolecules. 2013 Oct 14;14(10):3615-25
23972078
Langmuir. 2015 Jun 16;31(23):6282-8
25835257
Langmuir. 2012 Dec 18;28(50):17218-29
23020623
Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2013 May 7;15(17):6196-205
23429424
Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2000 Feb 1;85(1):1-33
10696447
Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2014 May 7;16(17):7686-91
24651929
Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2015 Aug;222:215-27
25288385
J Chem Phys. 2004 Apr 1;120(13):6197-206
15267506
Optica. 2015 Nov 20;2(11):985-993
26973863