MORPHOLOGICAL TRANSITION BETWEEN VESICLES AND TUBULES FOR A GLYCOPOLYMER-CONTAINING AMPHIPHILIC DIBLOCK COPOLYMER IN AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS*

 The morphological transition of molecular assemblies in aqueous solutions for a new amphiphilic diblockcopolymer induced by changing the initial solvent conditions was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thecopolymer was polystyrene(77)-b-poly 2 -(β-D-glucopyranosyloxy) ethyl acrylate (6)] (PSt₇₇-b-PGEA₆) and the solvent was amixture of DMF and THF. PSt₇₇-b-PGEA₆ yields vesicles and tubules when it is initially dissolved in THF and DMF respectively. The morphological transition between vesicles and tubules can be achieved by simply varying the amounts of THF and DMF,or changing the temperature at which the aggregates were prepared.