Doubly thermo-responsive copolymers in ionic liquid

Abstract

We report the behaviour of thermoresponsive block copolymers of n-butyl acrylate and N-alkyl acrylamides in [C₂mim][NTf₂]. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) exhibits an upper critical solution temperature in [C₂mim][NTf₂] whereas poly(n-butyl acrylate) has a lower critical solution temperature. Consequently, these polymers exhibit double thermo-responsiveness correlated with the macromolecular structure. Moreover, a switching from micellar to reverse micellar structures was induced by a change in temperature. This property enables the development of reversible shuttles between ionic liquids and water.