Thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel containing polymeric surfactant poly(2-(methacryloyloxyl)decylphosphate): correlation between rapid collapsing characters and micelles of polymeric surfactant.

This paper deals with a thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (NIPA) gel containing a polymeric surfactant poly(2-(methacryloyloxyl)decylphosphate) (PMDP) which shows rapid volume change above phase transition temperature at ca. 34 degrees C. Based on the measurements of dye-solubilization, it was suggested that intra-molecular micelles of the polymeric surfactant PMDP are inside NIPA gel-network. It is concluded that the intra-molecular micelles of polymeric surfactant involving NIPA chains may play crucial role in the rapid collapse of the NIPA-PMDP gel at the phase transition temperature.