Issue 5, 2012

Side-chain selenium-containing amphiphilic block copolymers: redox-controlled self-assembly and disassembly

Abstract

In this paper we report the synthesis and study of a series of side-chain selenium-containing amphiphilic poly(ethylene oxide-b-acrylic acid) block copolymers PEO-b-PAA-Se. These block copolymers can self-assemble in aqueous solution and form spherical micellar aggregates. The selenide group of PEO-b-PAA-Se can change into hydrophilic selenoxide under mild oxidation of 0.1% hydrogen peroxide, leading to the disassembly of the spherical micellar aggregates. Small compounds like Nile Red can be encapsulated into the micellar aggregates and show fast release upon the addition of 0.1% hydrogen peroxide. More interestingly, the oxidation state of selenoxide can be reversed to selenide under reduction of Vitamin C, thus recovering the spherical aggregates. The reversible oxidation and reduction process shows good reversibility and can be repeated at least 7 times. It is hoped that this reversible redox controlled system may function as nanocontainers for potential application in the areas such as responsive drug delivery and anti-oxidation studies.

Graphical abstract: Side-chain selenium-containing amphiphilic block copolymers: redox-controlled self-assembly and disassembly

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Sep 2011
Accepted
02 Nov 2011
First published
08 Dec 2011

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 1460-1466

Side-chain selenium-containing amphiphilic block copolymers: redox-controlled self-assembly and disassembly

H. Ren, Y. Wu, N. Ma, H. Xu and X. Zhang, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 1460 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06673K

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