Stable Core Bound Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Nano Micelles Containing Photocrosslinkable Groups. Control of the Critical Micelle Concentrations by Irradiation for the Release of Selected Materials

University of Massachusetts, Lowell
posted on 01/14/2009

• request more info 
•   
•  LICENSE ONLINE

The researchers have conceived of a method to stabilize, and to tune the stability of, self-assembling amphilic nanospheres, and thereby enabling the controlled release of biological and chemical agents encapsulated in the nanospheres, even when diluted or subjected to high temperatures.
Most important is the composition of the monomers: thymine moieties are used to synthesize a functionalized amphiphilic block copolymer by photo-crosslinking and irradiating with short wave UV light. Thymine stabilizes the micelles by hardening the core via hydrogen bonding.
Results have shown that thymine (hydrophobic) automatically forms the core while the hydrophilic block moves to the outer shell. Also, several experiments have shown that the stability of the nanospheres can be significantly increased by photo-crosslinking the thymine moieties. Further, the Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) can be manipulated by varying the photo-crosslinking (by varying the UV irradiation used), resulting in the ability to control the stability of the nanospheres as needed.