Comparison of thermosensitive properties of poly(amidoamine) dendrimers with peripheral N-isopropylamide groups and linear polymers with the same groups

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200603346

(Graph Presented) The sensitive type: A lower critical solution temperature (LCST) is observed for dendrimers with N-isopropylamide (NIPAM) groups at all chain terminals and for poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm; see picture). A much smaller endothermic peak occurs around the LCST for NIPAM-terminated dendrimers. The globular structure of the dendrimers may cause inefficient hydration and dehydration around NIPAM groups below and above the LCST, respectively.

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.200603346

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200603346
Thermosensitive Polymers
Comparison of Thermosensitive Properties of Poly(amidoamine)
Dendrimers with Peripheral N-Isopropylamide Groups and Linear
Polymers with the Same Groups
Yasuhiro Haba, Chie Kojima, Atsushi Harada, and Kenji Kono*
Thermosensitive polymers, which exhibit changes in water
solubility at a specific temperature, are highly attractive for
the production of functional or intelligent materials.[1]
Although a number of polymers are known to exhibit
thermosensitive properties, the most thoroughly studied is
poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm).[2,3] This polymer
is highly soluble in water at low temperature. It becomes
water-insoluble at temperatures greater than 31–328C: the
polymer chains become dehydrated and form aggregates.[3]
This temperature is designated as the lower critical solution
temperature (LCST).
The thermosensitive polymers known so far generally
possess a linear structure. However, recently we developed a
new type of thermosensitive polymer with a globular struc-
ture. These polymers were obtained by modification of the
chain terminals of poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) or poly-
(propyleneimine) dendrimers with isobutyramide groups,
which are common structural units in the thermosensitive
polymer, poly(N-vinylisobutyramide).[4] These modified den-
drimers differ markedly from conventional thermosensitive
polymers with a linear structure in terms of their molecular
shape and location of alkyl amide groups, which play a crucial
role in determining their thermosensitive properties.
those of NIPAM-bearing polymers with a linear structure,
such as PNIPAAm and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-ac-
rylamide) [poly(NIPAAm-co-AAm)].
The PAMAM dendrimers with NIPAM, N-isopropylsuc-
cinamide, and 4-isopropylcarbamoyl butyramide groups at
every chain end, which are designated as NIPAM-0-G4.5,
NIPAM-3-G5, and NIPAM-4-G5, respectively, were synthe-
sized by reacting a corresponding amine or carboxylic acid
with the carboxyl-terminated PAMAM G4.5 or amine-termi-
nated PAMAM G5 dendrimer, according to a previously
reported method (Scheme 1).[4,6] Analysis by 1H and
13C NMR spectroscopy demonstrated that essentially every
chain terminal of these dendrimers was connected to the
corresponding terminal groups of the surface-modified den-
drimers (see the Supporting Information).
A number of studies comparing dendritic, hyperbranched,
and linear polymers have revealed that molecular shapes and
topologies strongly influence their chemical and physical
properties.[5] In addition, the unique shape and characteristics
of thermosensitive dendrimers may lead to the production of
novel functional materials that are not obtainable with linear
thermosensitive polymers. Therefore, we seek to elucidate
how such differences affect their thermosensitive properties,
which may lead to the generation of new applications for
thermosensitive polymers.
In this study, we introduce the N-isopropylamide
(NIPAM) group, which is a common structural unit with
PNIPAAm, at every chain terminal of the PAMAM dendri-
mer through various spacers. The thermosensitive properties
of the NIPAM-terminated dendrimers were compared with
Scheme 1. Synthetic route for NIPAM-terminated dendrimers.
DCC=1,3-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. The number 64 next to the gray
surface refers to the humber of terminal moieties.
[*] Y. Haba, Dr. C. Kojima, Dr. A. Harada, Prof. Dr. K. Kono
Department of AppliedChemistry
Figure 1 depicts the temperature dependence of the light
transmittance of solutions of various NIPAM-terminated
dendrimers and linear polymers with NIPAM groups in a
phosphate solution (10 mm, pH 9.0) at 500 nm. PNIPAAm
exhibited a sharp decrease in transmittance at 328C, which
indicates that this polymer underwent conformational tran-
sition from a hydrated coil to a dehydrated globule at this
temperature. Poly(NIPAAm-co-AAm) also showed a sharp
decrease in transmittance at 408C.
Osaka Prefecture University
1-1 Gakuen-cho, Nakaku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531 (Japan)
Fax : (+81)72-254-9330
E-mail: kono@chem.osakafu-u.ac.jp
Homepage: http://www.chem.osakafu-u.ac.jp/ohka/ohka9/
engl.html
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://www.angewandte.org or from the author.
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Chemie
and 41.08C, respectively, which agree with their LCSTs
(Figure 1). Similarly, the NIPAM-terminated dendrimers
exhibited an endothermic peak around the LCST. However,
a striking difference is apparent between the DSC curves for
the NIPAM-terminated dendrimers and the linear polymers:
the heat of transition for the former is extremely small.
The cloud points and transition enthalpies (DH) for these
thermosensitive polymers and dendrimers are summarized in
Table 1. The phase separation or precipitation of thermosen-
Table 1: Transition enthalpies of various thermosensitive polymers.
Figure 1. Effect of temperature on transmittance of a) PNIPAAm,
b) poly(NIPAAm-co-AAm), c) NIPAM-0-G4.5, d) NIPAM-4-G5, and
e) NIPAM-3-G5 dissolved in 10 mm phosphate solution (10 mgmLÀ1
pH 9.0).
Polymer
Cloud
Tmax
DH
DH [kJmolÀ1 of
NIPAM unit]
point [8C] [8C][a] [JgÀ1
]
,
PNIPAAm
poly(NIPAAmM-co-AAm) 40.2
NIPAM-0-G4.5
NIPAM-4-G5
32.2
31.4
41.0
43.8
40.4
34.3
21.1
0.3
3.88
2.79
0.07
0.08
40.6
43.2
0.2
Similarly, solutions of NIPAM-terminated dendrimers
showed a sharp decrease in turbidity at a certain temperature:
the LCSTs for the solutions of NIPAM-0-G4.5, NIPAM-3-G5,
and NIPAM-4-G5 dendrimers were estimated as 41, 56, and
438C, respectively. This result further confirms that the
introduction of a common structural unit to the surface of
dendrimers can impart temperature-sensitive properties to
them.[4,7] Although these dendrimers have the same number
of NIPAM groups on the periphery, they exhibit different
LCSTs. As their molecular structures show (Scheme 1), the
length of the spacer moiety between the tertiary amine at the
outermost branching point and the terminal NIPAM group
increases in the order of NIPAM-0-G4.5 < NIPAM-3-G5 <
NIPAM-4-G5 dendrimers. The increase in spacer length
might decrease the density of NIPAM groups in the dendri-
mer periphery. Such a situation could depress the occurrence
of phase transition of the dendrimer.[4] However, the hydro-
phobicity of the spacer moiety might increase with increasing
spacer length, which enhances the occurrence of the phase
transition. These opposing effects of the spacer length could
cause the deviation of the LCSTs of the dendrimers.
[a] Evaluatedby DSC.
sitive polymers has been explained from the viewpoint of
entropy effects in the polymer solution.[2,9] At low temper-
atures, strong hydrogen bonding between hydrophilic amide
groups and water exceeds the unfavorable free energy related
to the exposure of hydrophobic isopropyl groups to water.
With increasing temperature, hydrophobic interaction
between isopropyl groups is enhanced, whereas hydrogen
bonding is weakened. Therefore, at temperatures higher than
the LCST, interaction between hydrophobic groups becomes
dominant, thereby resulting in the entropy-driven polymer
collapse and concomitant release of structured water around
the hydrophobic groups, which requires the absorption of
heat.[2,9]
As shown in Table 1, the transition enthalpy of poly-
(NIPAAm-co-AAm) is somewhat lower than that of PNI-
PAAm because hydration of hydrophobic groups decreases
with increasing temperature.[9] However, compared to these
linear polymers, the dendrimers exhibit transition enthalpies
that are two orders of magnitude lower, even though these
polymers and dendrimers include the same hydrophobic
groups. Indeed, the weight percent of NIPAM groups in the
whole molecule differs among these polymers and dendrim-
ers. Consequently, the transition enthalpy is normalized by
the number of NIPAM groups in a molecule, but much
smaller values are still apparent for the dendrimers after the
normalization compared with those of the linear polymers
(Table 1).
Next, we characterized the transitions of the NIPAM-
bearing polymers and dendrimers by differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC; Figure 2).[2,8] PNIPAAm and poly(NI-
PAAm-co-AAm) showed endothermic peaks centered at 31.4
The release of the structured water might take place not
only from NIPAM groups, but also from the polymer back-
bone for the linear polymers. However, a larger fraction of
hydrophobic carbon atoms exists in the NIPAM groups. These
side groups play a crucial role in the thermosensitive proper-
ties of the polymers. Therefore, hydration or dehydration of
NIPAM groups before and after the transition might be
responsible for the large difference between the transition
enthalpies of the linear polymers and globular dendrimers.
The dendrimer surface should exhibit a more hydrophobic
nature if NIPAM groups in the periphery of the dendrimer are
Figure 2. DSC thermograms of a) NIPAM-0-G4.5, b) NIPAM-4-G5,
c) poly(NIPAAm-co-AAm), andd) PNIPAAm. The heating rate was
0.5KminÀ1. Cp =heat capacity.
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235

Communications
less hydrated than the NIPAM-bearing linear polymers.
Therefore, we examined the hydrophobicity of these
NIPAM-bearing polymers below the LCST using 1-pyrene-
carboxaldehyde (PyCHO), which changes the wavelength of
the emission maximum (lmax) depending on the polarity of the
solvent.[10,11]
Figure 3 shows the dependence of lmax on the concen-
tration of NIPAM-terminated dendrimers, PNIPAAm, and
poly(NIPAAm-co-AAm) below the LCST. The result for the
Figure 3. Emission maxima of PyCHO (1 mm) as a function of the
~
&
concentration of NIPAM-0-G4.5 ( ), NIPAM-3-G5 ( ), NIPAM-4-G5
*
Figure 4. a) Influence of urea on LCST of NIPAM-4-G5 ( ) and
^
*
( ), OH-terminatedG5 ( ), PNIPAAm (&), andpoly(NIPAAmM- co-
À1
&
PNIPAAm ( ) dissolved in 10 mm phosphate solution (10 mgmL
pH 9.0). b) Influence of urea on emission maxima of PyCHO (1 mm) in
10 mm phosphate solution in the absence ( ) or presence ( ) of
,
*
AAm) ( ) dissolved in 10 mm phosphate solution (pH 9.0) at 208C.
lex =365.5 nm.
*
^
~
&
PNIPAAm, PAMAM-OH G5 ( ), andNIPAM-4-G5 ( ) at 208C.
OH-terminated PAMAM G5 dendrimer is also given, as a
dendrimer without NIPAM groups in the periphery. The
presence of PNIPAAm or poly(NIPAAm-co-AAm) only
slightly affected lmax even at a high concentration of
10 mgmLÀ1, which indicates that these linear polymers do
not form domains with a hydrophobic nature. However, in the
presence of NIPAM-terminated dendrimers, a blue shift of
lmax was observed with increasing concentration of the
dendrimers. The OH-terminated PAMAM-G5 dendrimer
caused a blue shift of lmax which was much less than that
caused by NIPAM-terminated dendrimers. These dendrimers
contain the same interior. Therefore, the marked change of
lmax in the presence of the NIPAM-terminated dendrimers
might be attributable to the peripheral NIPAM groups.
Probably, the dense packing of NIPAM groups in the
dendrimer periphery enhances dehydration around these
groups.
The effects of urea on the hydrophobicity of the NIPAM-
bearing dendrimer and linear polymers were also examined
using PyCHO (Figure 4b). Although the effects on PNI-
PAAm and OH-terminated PAMAM G5 dendrimer were
negligible, the NIPAM-terminated dendrimer displayed a
considerable increase in lmax with increasing urea concen-
tration. Probably, urea molecules disturb the hydrophobic
interaction of NIPAM groups and reduce their dehydration in
the surface of the dendrimer.
The different hydration states around NIPAM groups that
arise from the structural features of these linear and globular
polymers are illustrated schematically in Figure 5. For
NIPAM-bearing linear polymers, their backbone has a large
conformational freedom, which enables efficient hydration of
NIPAM groups below the LCST and efficient association of
NIPAM groups above the LCST. For that reason, a large
To confirm the low extent of hydration of the dendrimer
NIPAM groups, we further investigated the influence of urea
on the LCST, because urea is known to modify hydration
around hydrophobic solutes in aqueous solutions and to
reduce hydrophobic interactions.[12] The presence of urea did
not affect the LCST of the PNIPAAm solution (Figure 4a).
Fang et al. reported that the presence of urea at a concen-
tration of 3m did not change the LCST of PNIPAAm,
although swelling of the compact conformation of the
polymer chain was caused by urea at temperatures higher
than the LCST.[13] In contrast, a marked difference is apparent
for the NIPAM-terminated dendrimer, which exhibited a
considerable increase of LCST with increasing urea concen-
tration.
Figure 5. Schematic illustration of the phase transition of NIPAM-
bearing polymer with a globular or a linear structure.
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Angewandte
Chemie
T. Shimoboji, C. Long, A. Chilkoti, G. Chen, J. H. Harris, A. S.
amount of structured water that solvates around NIPAM
groups can be released upon the transition, thus yielding a
large transition enthalpy. However, for the NIPAM-termi-
nated dendrimers, the low conformational freedom that arises
from their highly branched structure might cause dense
packing of NIPAM groups in the periphery. Such a situation
should lead to inefficient hydration around NIPAM groups
below the LCST and inefficient dehydration of the NIPAM
groups above the LCST, thereby resulting in the extremely
small transition enthalpy.
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thermosensitive dendrimers could undergo a sharp transition
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Received: August 16, 2006
Revised: October 4, 2006
Published online: November 24, 2006
Keywords: dendrimers · isopropylacrylamide ·
.
lower critical solution temperature · polymers · thermodynamics
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