Polymerization of polymerizable surfactant counterions

Polymerization in surfactant systems, typically with the objective of “freezing” or “templating” (making a polymer replica of) the surfactant structure is a very active research field. However, there are notorious problems associated with using “soft” surfactant aggregates to template “soft” polymeric materials, mainly because the polymerization reaction generally strongly affects – and often destroys – the surfactant structure.  Two aspects make our approach to this problem unique: 1) We build on our a priori knowledge of the phase behavior of surfactant ions with polymeric counterions in water. 2) We perform the syntheses under conditions where the surfactant aggregates are the sole counterions to the growing chains of the polyion. This represents a quite strong constraint for the outcome of the polymerization.

We introduce comonomers and/or crosslinkers in the system, with the overall aim to achieve non-random polymeric materials, whose primary structures are affected by the presence of the surfactant aggregates. For example, we synthesize, in cationic surfactant systems, linear copolymers of polyacrylate with neutral comonomers, and also cross-linked gels. Two questions will be addressed in this research: 1) To what extent can we make a soft template that still retains its structure even after the surfactant is removed? 2) Can we make a gel or a polymer that recognizes objects, for instance, such surfactant aggregates as was used for templating?

People: Salomé dos Santos, Lennart Piculell

External collaboration: Ola Karlsson (MIP Technologies) Maria Miguel (Coimbra University)

OMM support: General support

Contact person: Lennart Piculell

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