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Controlling Fusion and Aggregation in Polymersome Dispersions
Author(s) -
Smart Thomas P.,
Fernyhough Christine,
Ryan Anthony J.,
Battaglia Giuseppe
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200800475
Subject(s) - polymersome , ethylene oxide , materials science , oxide , fusion , copolymer , chemical engineering , poly ethylene , membrane , nanotechnology , polymer chemistry , polymer , chemistry , amphiphile , ethylene , organic chemistry , composite material , linguistics , philosophy , catalysis , biochemistry , engineering , metallurgy
The effects of addition of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) to poly(ethylene oxide) 16 ‐ block ‐poly(butylene oxide) 22 (EB1) polymersome dispersions has been studied. Aggregation and membrane fusion between polymersomes were observed with great control of the outcome by varying PEO molecular weight. Small‐scale fusion of 2 to 3 polymersomes was seen with low‐molecular‐weight PEO, whilst large‐scale aggregation occurred above a critical PEO molecular weight of 4 000 Da. The resulting highly porous EB1‐PEO aggregate shows great promise for applications in cell entrapment for transport and delivery, and as a three‐dimensional scaffold for use in tissue engineering.