Facile Preparation of CO2‐Responsive Polymer Nano‐Objects via Aqueous Photoinitiated Polymerization‐Induced Self‐Assembly (Photo‐PISA)

Carbon dioxide (CO2)-responsive polymer nano-objects are prepared by photoinitiated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer dispersion polymerization of 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) in water at room temperature using a poly(poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) macromolecular chain transfer agent. Kinetic studies confirm that full monomer conversions are achieved in all cases within 10 min of visible-light irradiation (405 nm, 0.5 mW cm−2). The effect of DMAEMA on the polymerization is studied in detail, and pure higher order morphologies (worms and vesicles) are prepared by this particular formulation. Finally, CO2-responsive property of the obtained vesicles is investigated by dynamic light scattering, visual appearance, and transmission electron microscope.