Exchange kinetics of telechelic Cn-PEO-Cn micelles: effect of conformation and crystallinity

The microscopic dynamics of associative polymers that self-assemble into micellar structures play a key role for their macroscopical properties, with important implications for their application, such as in drug delivery or viscosity modification. Here we study a well-defined model system consisting of hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) which is end-capped with hydrophobic n-alkyl groups with various length (Cn-PEO-Cn). A previous systematic structural SAXS/SANS study has shown that, depending on the length of the alkane chain length, either flower-like or cross-linked micelles are formed. Here we would like to study the molecular exchange kinetics of this system by time-resolved small-angle neutron scattering, applying the kinetic zero average contrast technique. The data will be directly compared to previously published data on mono-functional micelles.