A novel route to prepare highly surface active nanogel particles based on nonaqueous emulsion polymerization

The motivation of the current work has stemmed from the fact that the selection of suitable stabilizers for nonaqueous emulsions is still challenging because of lack of general knowledge about the underlying stabilization mechanisms. The preparation and surface activity of new amphiphilic gel nanoparticles in organic solvents were investigated. A new bifunctional surfmer was prepared by reacting polyoxyethylene 4‐nonyl‐2‐propylene‐phenol nonionic reactive surfactant with maleic anhydride followed by esterification with poly(ethylene glycol). This surfmer was used as stabilizer to prepare amphiphilic crosslinked N‐isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm) and 2‐acrylamido‐2‐methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) copolymer nanogel on the basis of nonaqueous radical copolymerization temperature modified method in the presence of toluene and formamide (FA) as solvents and N, N‐methylene bisacrylamide as a crosslinker. The chemical structure of the prepared nanogels was determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses. The morphologies of the prepared nanogels were detected by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The surface tension of colloidal NIPAm/AMPS dispersions was measured in FA as functions of surface age (time), temperature, and the morphology of the NIPAm/AMPS nanogels. The NIPAm/AMPS nanogels reduced the surface tension of FA from 58.2 to about 30.2 mN/m at 25°C, and a little increase in the surface tension was observed at 40°C. The prepared nanogels show great reduction in interfacial tension values between FA and styrene. The NIPAm/AMPS dispersions exhibited high surface activity and used as stabilizers to prepare crosslinked styrene‐co‐AMPS microgel in the presence of divinylbenzene and FA as organic solvents based on nonaqueous emulsion crosslinking polymerization technique. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.