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Published February 1989 | public
Journal Article

Structural reorganization of phosphatidylcholine vesicle membranes by poly(2-ethylacrylic acid): influence of the molecular weight of the polymer

Abstract

Three samples of poly(2-ethylacrylic acid) (PEAA) of different molecular weights (M_w = 164000, 43000, and 12000) were prepared by radical polymerization of 2-ethylacrylic acid in bulk. The conformational properties of the samples were determined and correlated with the pH-dependent structural reorganization observed in phosphatidylcholine vesicles suspended in the respective polymer solutions. In all experiments the sample of lowest molecular weight behaved differently from the other two: The cooperativity of the conformational transition was reduced and the transition midpoint was shifted to lower pH as compared to the samples of higher molecular weight. These effects of polymer molecular weight were reflected in the behavior of the vesicle-to-micelle transition observed upon acidification of aqueous mixtures of PEAA and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine.

Additional Information

© 1989 American Chemical Society. Received March 22, 1988; Revised Manuscript Received March 25, 1988. This work was supported by a grant from the US. Army Research Office (DAAL03-88-K-0038) and by a Presidential Young Investigator Award of the National Science Foundation. Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for one of the authors (U.K.O.S.) is gratefully acknowledged. Registry No. 1, 62607-09-4; 2, 2644-64-6.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023