Polymersomes : smart vesicles of tunable rigidity and permeability

Title data

Rodriguez-Garcia, Ruddi ; Mell, Michael ; Lopez-Montero, Ivan ; Netzel, Jeanette ; Hellweg, Thomas ; Monroy, Francisco:
Polymersomes : smart vesicles of tunable rigidity and permeability.
In: Soft Matter. Vol. 7 (2011) Issue 4 . - pp. 1532-1542.
ISSN 1744-6848
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C0SM00823K

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Abstract in another language

We report an experimental study on the mechanical and permeability properties of giant polymersomes made of diblock (PBD-PEO) and triblock (PEO-PPO-PEO) copolymers. These polymer amphiphiles bear the architecture and macromolecular dimensions adequate for assembling stable flat bilayers with a different hydrophobicity. In the highly hydrophobic case (PBD-PEO) an extremely compact membrane is formed, resulting in rigid polymersomes which represent a permeability barrier against solute transport across. In the case of water soluble PEO-PPO-PEO triblock copolymers, the bilayer structure is less stable in favour of the micellar state; therefore giant vesicles can be solely formed at large PPO contents. These cases (Pluronicsregistered sign L121 and its mixtures with P85 and P105) are characterised by a much lower chain entangling than highly hydrophobic membranes{,} their polymersomes being softer than those based on PBD-PEO. Pluronic-based polymersomes are also found to be highly permeable to hydrophilic solutes{,} even remaining undamaged in the case of an extreme osmotic shock. This high permeability together with their high flexibility endows Pluronics polymersomes smart core/shell properties ideal to catch large biomolecules inside and able to resist under osmotic and mechanical stresses.