Aggregation and crosslinking of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide)-b-pullulan double hydrophilic block copolymers

The self‐assembly of polymers is a major topic in current polymer chemistry. In here, the self‐assembly of a pullulan based double hydrophilic block copolymer, namely pullulan‐b ‐poly(N,N ‐dimethylacrylamide)‐co ‐poly(diacetone acrylamide) (Pull‐b ‐(PDMA‐co ‐PDAAM)) is described. The hydrophilic block copolymer induces phase separation at high concentration in aqueous solution. Additionally, the block copolymer displays aggregates at lower concentration, which show a size dependence on concentration. In order to stabilize the aggregates, crosslinking via oxime formation is described, which enables preservation of aggregates at high dilution, in dialysis and in organic solvents. With adequate stability by crosslinking, double hydrophilic block copolymer (DHBC) aggregates open pathways for potential biomedical applications in the future.