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Semiconducting Polymer Nanocavities: Porogenic Synthesis, Tunable Host–Guest Interactions, and Enhanced Drug/siRNA Delivery
Author(s) -
Chen Haobin,
Fang Xiaofeng,
Jin Yue,
Hu Xin,
Yin Min,
Men Xiaoju,
Chen Nan,
Fan Chunhai,
Chiu Daniel T.,
Wan Youzhong,
Wu Changfeng
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201800239
Subject(s) - polymer , materials science , macromolecule , nanotechnology , drug delivery , nanoreactor , fluorescence , förster resonance energy transfer , small molecule , nanoparticle , chemistry , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , composite material
Abstract Nanocavities composed of lipids and block polymers have demonstrated great potential in biomedical applications such as sensors, nanoreactors, and delivery vectors. However, it remains a great challenge to produce nanocavities from fluorescent semiconducting polymers owing to their hydrophobic rigid polymer backbones. Here, we describe a facile, yet general strategy that combines photocrosslinking with nanophase separation to fabricate multicolor, water‐dispersible semiconducting polymer nanocavities (PNCs). A photocrosslinkable semiconducting polymer is blended with a porogen such as degradable macromolecule to form compact polymer dots (Pdots). After crosslinking the polymer and removing the porogen, this approach yields semiconducting polymer nanospheres with open cavities that are tunable in diameter. Both small molecules and macromolecules can be loaded in the nanocavities, where molecular size can be differentiated by the efficiency of the energy transfer from host polymer to guest molecules. An anticancer drug doxorubicin (Dox) is loaded into the nanocavities and the intracellular release is monitored in real time by the fluorescence signal. Finally, the efficient delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) to silence gene expression without affecting cell viability is demonstrated. The combined features of bright fluorescence, tunable cavity, and efficient drug/siRNA delivery makes these nanostructures promising for biomedical imaging and drug delivery.