Amphiphilic Stackable Gels Synthesized by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Abstract

The synthesis of multilayered stackable gels based on 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate and n-butyl methacrylate was performed using ATRP to combine layers with different properties. A pre-gel solution was introduced on top of a previously synthesized gel, and these new components then underwent ATRP to form the subsequent layer. In general it was shown that two layers sequentially synthesized by ATRP cannot be connected if immiscible solvents are used to synthesize each gel. It is believed that compositional and structural effects such as 'skin' layer effect are responsible for these observations. Successfull strategies to overcome these factors are presented.