amphiphilic polymers

Using surface tension measurements, solubilization, and fluorescence spectroscopy, polyesters based on aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and PEG-1000 have been shown to form monomolecular micelles in aqueous solutions at the concentrations of 10-7–10-4 %. With increasing concentration, the monomolecular micelles have been revealed to aggregate to afford polymolecular micelles. The amphiphilic polyesters have been demonstrated to possess invertibility and thus respond to the change in a medium polarity as well as adsorb at hydrophilic and hydrophobized dispersed silica surface.

The interaction of binary copolymers poly(maleic anhydride-co-poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) with cholesterol results in formation of cholesterol containing polymers, which contain from 4.6 to 46.0 mol % monocholesteryl maleic links. Their structure was confirmed using functional analysis and IR spectroscopy. Acidic and anhydride links of these copolymers form polymeric salts if react with alkali. These salts are surfactants which in aqueous medium form a hierarchy micelles and micellar aggregates depending on the copolymer concentration.