Effect of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on the temperature-dependent association behavior of poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) block copolymers was investigated using pyrene fluorescence spectroscopy. The critical micellization temperature (CMT) of pluronics in aqueous solution was increased by the addition of BSA. A closed association model was used to obtain the standard free energies (△G0), enthalpies (△H 0), and entropies (△S 0) of micellization. The standard enthalpy and entropy of micellization for pluronic polymers in water were decreased with an increase of the BSA content. The more PPO component in the pluronic polymer, the higher the changed values of micellization enthalpy and entropy. The hydrophobic part of the pluronics, PPO, was responsible for the interaction between pluronics and BSA. Hydrophobic interaction between PPO and BSA was correlated to the alternation of the PPO-PPO interaction by the addition of BSA, which would shift the CMT toward higher temperature and alter the thermodynamic parameters of micellization for pluronics in aqueous solutions.
GUO Chen WANG Jing LIANG Xiangfeng ZHENG Lili LIU Huizhou
In this paper we review our work on self-assembly of the system, poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) block copolymers, which is a kind of macromolecular complex fluids. The control of self-assembly could be obtained by adding inorganic salts or aliphatic alcohols. By self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers, a microemulsion phase is formed, which could be applied in micelle extraction, such as hollow-fiber membrane micelle extraction, magnetic micelle extraction and immobilized micelle extraction.
