In this master's thesis, polyzwitterionic copolymers were synthesized and analyzed with various methods. In the literature part, the theory behind the reactions and results is covered in order to explain the phenomena.
In the literature part of the thesis, articles were used to describe the theory as extensively as possible. The theory elaborates on the most important topics considering the research part. The main topics are reversible addition-fragmentation polymerization (RAFT), polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA), and polyzwitterions. In the reversible addition-fragmentation polymerization chapter the kinetics and possible monomers and RAFT agents are gone through also considering the pros and cons. Different disadvantages are dealt with as well when talking about RAFT polymerization. In the PISA chapter different possible morphologies and different types of PISA polymerizations are covered, concentrating still on RAFT polymerization. In this chapter also core blocks of PISA were discussed covering the core forming block used in the research, diacetone acrylamide. lastly, polyzwitterions were discussed explaining the theory, possible applications, polyelectrolyte complexes, and thermoresponsivity of polyzwitterions. Also, in this part polysulfobetaines were covered since it is the zwitterionic block in the copolymer synthesis.
In the experimental part, PSBMA-PDAAM diblock copolymers were synthesized and studied with different methods. Different lengths of block copolymer were synthesized and they were studied with the most common characterization methods. Thermoresponsivity, morphology, and also the effect of the solids content of different block lengths were studied. Measurements turned out to be a success since many different morphologies were witnessed and the thermoresponsive behavior of this copolymer showed interesting results.
