Abstract: Three samples of core-shell amphiphilic hyperbranched poly(sulfone-amine)(HPSA) were synthesized by end-capping of hyperbranched poly(sulfone-amine) with valeryl chloride,nonanoyl chloride and palmitoyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine.They exhibit high capabilities to load water soluble dyes,such as congo red(CR),methyl orange(MO) and rose bengal(RB).It is found that the longer the terminal hydrophobic chain is,the higher the loading capability would be for the same dye.The maximum loading quantity of our hyperbranched macromolecular vessel is an order of magnitude higher than that of dendritic box for MO,and is 1—2 orders of magnitude higher than that of other hyperbranched polymers reported before for CR.For the palmitoyl-terminated HPSA,the average number of dye molecules trapped by per macromolecule achieves 41.8 of CR,19.4 of MO,and 3.0 of RB,respectively.Such high loading-capability is considered to attribute to the high water-solubility of the hyperbranched poly(sulfone-amine) core and the large polarity difference between the hydrophilic core and hydrophobic shell.Interestingly,the loaded dyes can be released from the molecular vessel by mixing its chloroform solution with pure water.The high loading capability associated with the reversible releasing property would pave the way for the molecular vessels in the application of drug transfer/delivery,selective molecular recognition and separation,nanocatalysis and nanocoating.

Key words: Hyperbranched poly(sulfone-amine)s, Amphiphilicity, Load, Dye, Reversiblity