Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 2263–2269.
A similar effect was observed in a previous study in which the
terminated polymer was investigated [7]. We assume that this
behavior can be attributed to entropic effects.
In addition to the UV–vis measurements, which already veri-
fied the formation of supramolecular complexes, rotating-frame
nuclear Overhauser effect correlation spectroscopy (ROESY)
was performed. Thereby, resonances of spatially close nuclei
are connected though cross peaks which can be found in
ROESY spectra besides the diagonal peaks. Since the complex
Figure 2: Solution of PEG-PP (0.05 mg/mL) a) at pH 10, b) in pres-
ence of 16.7 equiv DPE-CD at pH 12, c) in presence of 100 equiv
RAMEB-CD at pH 12 (from left to right).
colorization. This assumption was supported by the observation formation of DPE-CD and PEG-PP induces a spatial conver-
that the addition of higher amounts of cyclodextrin equivalents, gence of the PP and β-CD moieties, we expected the detection
which should shift the equilibrium to the complexed form, of cross peaks between the CD protons and the aromatic PP
indeed resulted in a stronger decrease of the colorization.
protons. Due to the limited solubility of PEG-PP in aqueous
solution, a sample of low polymer concentration was utilized to
In addition to the qualitative evaluation of the complexation record the ROESY spectrum.
behavior of PEG-PP, UV–vis measurements were performed in
maximum that refers to the pink color in basic solution can be Although the low intensity can most likely be referred to the
found at 554 nm in corresponding UV–vis spectra. For the low polymer concentration, the significance of this experiment
phenolphthalein-containing polymer PEG-PP, a slight needs to be critically evaluated.
bathochromic effect is observed, which shifts the maximum to
5
61 nm. Accordingly, the decrease of the absorption at 561 nm The formation of the desired star-shaped polymers requires the
was examined in order to evaluate the complexation. For this, complexation of PEG-PP molecules by at least three β-CD
solutions containing a PEG-PP:DPE-CD ratio between 1:1 and moieties attached to the same DPE-CD molecule. We assumed
1
:16.7, and a PEG-PP:RAMEB-CD ratio of 1:100, respective- that the complexation efficiency of DPE-CD can be evaluated
Figure 3, it can be seen that the absorption at 561 nm clearly and the diameter of the complex formed by both polymers.
decreases with increasing amount of DPE-CD. Interestingly, Ideally, the hydrodynamic diameter of the complex could be
the complexation with DPE-CD seems to be more efficient than calculated by the following equation:
the complexation by free RAMEB-CD, since the presence of
(1)
1
00 equivalents β-CD attached to DPE induces a stronger
decrease in the absorption than the same amount of free β-CDs.
Unfortunately, neither the hydrodynamic diameters of the single
polymers nor the diameter of the complex could be determined
in DLS measurements. Instead, a strong aggregation behavior
was observed and dilution or filtration resulted in a dramatic
decrease of the measurement quality.
Conclusion
A successful synthetic strategy for the preparation of new com-
pounds bearing phenolphthalein and cyclodextrin moieties as
the complex forming groups could be introduced. Furthermore,
the formation of stable complexes based on supramolecular
interactions between both compounds was proved by UV–vis
measurements. Although DLS measurements did not succeed to
explicitly validate the formation of the desired star shaped poly-
mers due to the formation of strongly aggregated particles, we
believe that this approach is an interesting addition to other
Figure 3: UV–vis spectra of PEG-PP solutions containing different
amounts of DPE-CD and RAMEB-CD.
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