Polymer Bulletin, Vol.34, No.3, 331-335, 1995
Solubilization Control by Redox-Switching of Polysoaps
Reversible changes in the self-organization of polysoaps may be induced by controlling their charge numbers via covalently bound redox moieties. This is illustrated with two viologen polysoaps, which in response to an electrochemical stimulus, change their solubility and aggregation in water, leading from homogeneously dissolved and aggregated molecules to collapsed ones and vice verse. Using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM), it could be shown that the reversibility of this process is better than 95% in 16 cycles.