Defined aggregates of polymers such as polymeric micelles are of great importance in the development of pharmaceutical formulations. The amount of drug that can be formulated by a drug delivery system is an important issue, and most drug delivery systems suffer from their relatively low drug-loading capacity. However, as the loading capacities increase, i.e., promoted by good drug–polymer interactions, the drug may affect the morphology and stability of the micellar system. We investigated this effect in a prominent system with very high capacity for hydrophobic drugs and found extraordinary stability as well as a profound morphology change upon incorporation of paclitaxel into micelles of amphiphilic ABA poly(2-oxazoline) triblock copolymers. The hydrophilic blocks A comprised poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline), while the middle blocks B were either just barely hydrophobic poly(2-n-butyl-2-oxazoline) or highly hydrophobic poly(2-n-nonyl-2-oxazoline). The aggregation behavior of both polymers and their formulations with varying paclitaxel contents were investigated by means of dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, (cryogenic) transmission electron microscopy, and small-angle neutron scattering. While without drug, wormlike micelles were present, after incorporation of small amounts of drugs only spherical morphologies remained. Furthermore, the much more hydrophobic poly(2-n-nonyl-2-oxazoline)-containing triblock copolymer exhibited only half the capacity for paclitaxel than the poly(2-n-butyl-2-oxazoline)-containing copolymer along with a lower stability. In the latter, contents of paclitaxel of 8 wt % or higher resulted in a raspberry-like micellar core.

Biocompatible polymers that form thermoreversible supramolecular hydrogels have gained great interest in biomaterials research and tissue engineering. When favorable rheological properties are achieved at the same time, they are particularly promising candidates as material that allow for the printing of cells, so-called bioinks. We synthesized a novel thermogelling block copolymer and investigated the rheological properties of its aqueous solution by viscosimetry and rheology. The polymers undergo thermogelation between room temperature and body temperature, form transparent hydrogels of surprisingly high strength (G' > 1000 Pa) and show rapid and complete shear recovery after stress. Small angle neutron scattering suggests an unusual bicontinuous sponge-like gel network. Excellent cytocompatibility was demonstrated with NIH 3T3 fibroblasts, which were incorporated and bioplotted into predefined 3D hydrogel structures without significant loss of viability. The developed materials fulfill all criteria for future use as bioink for biofabrication.

The reorientation of lamellae and the dependence of the lamellar spacing, Dlam, on polymer volume fraction, ϕP, Dlam ∝ ϕP–β, in diblock copolymer thin films during solvent vapor annealing (SVA) are examined by combining white light interferometry (WLI) and grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). A thin film of lamellae-forming poly(styrene-b-butadiene) prepared by spin-coating features lamellae of different orientations with the lamellar spacing depending on orientation. During annealing with ethyl acetate (EAC) vapor, it is found that perpendicular lamellae behave differently from parallel ones, which is due to the fact that their initial lamellar thicknesses differ strongly. Quantitatively, the swelling process is composed of three regimes and the drying process of two regimes. The first two regimes of swelling are associated with a significant structural rearrangement of the lamellae; i.e., the lamellae first become thicker, and then perpendicular and randomly oriented lamellae vanish, which results in a purely parallel orientation at the end of the swelling process. The rearrangement is attributed to the increase of mobility of the polymer chains imparted by the solvent and to a decrease of total free energy of the thin film. In the third regime of swelling, the scaling exponent is found to be β = −0.32. During drying, the deswelling is nonaffine which may be a consequence of the increase of nonfavorable segmental interactions as the solvent is removed.

The KWS‐1 small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument operated by the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at the research reactor FRM II of the Heinz Maier‐Leibnitz Zentrum in Garching near Munich has been recently upgraded. The KWS‐1 instrument was updated, from its active collimation apertures to the detector cabling. Most of the parts of the instrument were installed for the first time, including a broadband polarizer, a large‐cross‐section radio‐frequency spin flipper, a chopper and neutron lenses. A custom‐designed hexapod in the sample position allows heavy loads and precise sample positioning in the beam for conventional SANS experiments as well as for grazing‐incidence SANS under applied magnetic field. With the foreseen in situ polarization analysis the main scientific topic of the instrument tends towards magnetism. The performance of the polarizer and flipper was checked with a polarized 3He cell at the sample position. The results of these checks and a comparison of test measurements on a ferrofluid in a magnetic field with polarized and nonpolarized neutrons are presented.

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