| Autor: |
Senyuan Liu, Mohammad Sadegh Samie, Radhakrishna Sureshkumar |
| Jazyk: |
angličtina |
| Rok vydání: |
2024 |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Colloids and Interfaces, Vol 8, Iss 3, p 29 (2024) |
| Druh dokumentu: |
article |
| ISSN: |
2504-5377 |
| DOI: |
10.3390/colloids8030029 |
| Popis: |
Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations are employed to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of vesicles (polymersomes) through the self-assembly of randomly distributed amphiphilic BAB triblock copolymers with hydrophilic A and hydrophobic B blocks in an aqueous solution. The vesiculation pathway consists of several intermediate structures, such as an interconnected network of copolymer aggregates, a cage of cylindrical micelles, and a lamellar cage. The cage-to-vesicle transition occurs at a constant aggregation number and practically eliminates the hydrophobic interfacial area between the B block and solvent. Molecular reorganization underlying the sequence of morphology transitions from a cage-like aggregate to a vesicle is nearly isentropic. The end-to-end distances of isolated copolymer chains in solution and those within a vesicular assembly follow lognormal probability distributions. This can be attributed to the preponderance of folded chain configurations in which the two hydrophobic end groups of a given chain stay close to each other. However, the probability distribution of end-to-end distances is broader for chains within the vesicle as compared with that of a single chain. This is due to the swelling of the folded configurations within the hydrophobic bilayer. Increasing the hydrophobicity of the B block reduces the vesiculation time without qualitatively altering the self-assembly pathway. |
| Databáze: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
| Externí odkaz: |
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