************OWARI COMPLEX SEMINAR LXV*************

Title : Self-Organization of Amphiphilic Polymers 
        and Their Interaction with Cyclodextrins

Speaker : Prof. Akihito Hashidzume

Affiliation : Department of Macromolecular 
              Science, Graduate School of Science, 
              Osaka University

Date : Mon. May. 11th, 4:30 pm (Almost one hour)

Place : 4F Seminar Room, Graduate School of 
        Information Science

Abstract :
Amphiphilic polymers, which possess hydrophilic 
and hydrophobic residues on the same polymer 
chain, for self-assemblies in aqueous solutions, 
depending on their chemical structure.  
Self-organization of amphiphilic polymers is of 
increasing importance not only because 
self-assemblies of amphiphilic polymers act as 
emulsifiers, dispersants, gelators, and 
associative thickeners and have been utilized in 
a variety of fields, e.g., cosmetics, drug 
delivery systems, paints, coatings, and personal 
care items, but also because the 
self-organization is also useful as simple models 
for the formation of higher order structures of 
biological macromolecules.  We have been working 
on self-organization behavior of amphiphilic 
polymers which exhibit a stronger tendency of 
intrapolymer association by various 
characterization techniques.  On the basis of the 
characterization data, we have demonstrated that 
the amphiphlic polymers form a flower-type 
micelle with a minimum loop size.  The structure 
of flower-type micelle is in good agreement with 
results of molecular dynamics simulation.  We 
also investigated the interaction of the 
flower-type micelle with cyclodextrins.  It is 
noteworthy that the interaction is cooperative 
and the cooperativity is increased with the
 polymer molecular weight.

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