Preparation of 2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate copolymer micelles for shape memory materials

Researchers are actively developing shape memory polymers (SMPs) for smart biomaterials. This paper reports a new SMP system synthesized from biocompatible 2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), butyl acrylate (BA) and tri(ethylene glycol) divinyl ether (TDE). Preliminary results show that the DMAEMA-co-BA-co-TDE copolymers form micelles in aqueous solution due to chemical crosslinking and hydrophobicity. The micelle size decreased with the increase in the BA content since the hydrophobicity of copolymers increases with the increase of BA content. The resulting polymer films contain–N(CH 3 ) 2 functional groups for further biomaterial applications. The thermal stability of DMAEMA-co-BA-co-TDE copolymers is determined by the DMAEMA structure and content. Moreover, the copolymers form micro-phase-separated structures containing a reversible amorphous soft phase, and the storage moduli decreases significantly around T g . Therefore, good thermal-induced shape memory effects are achieved in the DMAEMA-co-BA-co-TDE copolymers by adjusting the BA content. This work proposes a new strategy for designing smart biomaterials using a biocompatible monomer. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132 , 42312.