Abstract
Vesicles formed in water by synthetic macro-amphiphiles have attracted much attention as nanocontainers having properties that extend the physical and chemical limits of liposomes. We sought to develop ABA block copolymeric amphiphiles that self-assemble into unilamellar vesicles that can be further oxidatively destabilized. We selected poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as the hydrophilic A blocks, owing to its resistance to protein adsorption and low toxicity. As hydrophobic B blocks, we selected poly(propylene sulphide) (PPS), owing to its extreme hydrophobicity, its low glass-transition temperature, and most importantly its oxidative conversion from a hydrophobe to a hydrophile, poly(propylene sulphoxide) and ultimately poly(propylene sulphone). This is the first example of the use of oxidative conversions to destabilize such carriers. This new class of oxidation-responsive polymeric vesicles may find applications as nanocontainers in drug delivery, biosensing and biodetection.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported in part by a grant from the Research Commission of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Authors acknowledge Anita Saraf for the preliminary experimental work on copolymer oxidation, and Heinz Rüegger at ETH Zurich for discussions on NMR results.
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Napoli, A., Valentini, M., Tirelli, N. et al. Oxidation-responsive polymeric vesicles. Nature Mater 3, 183–189 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1081
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1081
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