| Autor: |
Terracciano R; Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K., Liu Y; Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven 5600MB, The Netherlands., Varanaraja Z; Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K., Godzina M; Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K., Yilmaz G; Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K., van Hest JCM; Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven 5600MB, The Netherlands., Becer CR; Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. |
| Abstrakt: |
The design of biocompatible and biodegradable nanostructures with controlled morphological features remains a predominant challenge in medical research. Stimuli-responsive vesicles offer significant advantages in drug delivery, biomedical applications, and diagnostic techniques. The combination of poly(2-oxazoline)s with biodegradable polymers could provide exceptional biocompatibility properties and be proposed as a versatile platform for the development of new medicines. Therefore, poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEtOx) and poly(2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline) (P i PrOx) possessing a hydroxy terminal group that acts as an initiator for the ring-opening polymerization of d,l-lactide (DLLA) have been utilized in this study. The resulting amphiphilic block polymers were used to create polymersomes, which undergo solvent-dependent reorganization into bowl-shaped vesicles or stomatocytes. By blending PEtOx- b -PDLLA and P i PrOx- b -PDLLA copolymers, a thermoresponsive stomatocyte was generated, where the opening narrowed and irreversibly closed with a slight increase in the temperature. Detailed transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals the formation of both closed and fused stomatocytes upon heating the sample above the critical solution temperature of P i PrOx. |
