Non-spherical polymersomes driven by directional aromatic interactions

• Published in: Science China materials Vol. 61; no. 3; pp. 437 - 438
• Main Authors: Luo, Mingyan, Luo, Yunjun, Li, Xiaoyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Science China Press 01.03.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Highlights; Materials Science
• ISSN: 2095-8226; 2199-4501
• DOI: 10.1007/s40843-017-9181-2

Polymersomes, nanoscopic polymer vesicles self-as- sembled from synthetic block copolymers, are ideal can- didates for drug delivery and synthetic biology, due to their characteristic of high stability, chemical versatility and surface modifiability. Besides the dimensions, re- searchers have demonstrated that the shape of polymer- somes also plays a crucial role in their performance [1]. However, the formation of polymersomes is largely dri- ven by the hydrophobic effect [2], which is non-direc- tional, and thus the resultant polymersomes are mostly spherical. Anisotropic polymersomes or vesicular micelles have been reported by van Hest.