In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a thermally responsive AB diblock copolymer prepared by RAFT polymerization wherein the diblock copolymer comprises poly(N-(3-aminopropyl)methacrylamide hydrochloride)-block-(N-isopropylacrylamide). Nanostructures of the thermally responsive diblock copolymer are formed by molecularly dissolving the diblock copolymer in aqueous solution at room temperature; and increasing the solution temperature to form nanostructures, for example vesicles or micelles. The first RAFT polymerization of an unprotected amino acid based monomer directly in water is also disclosed. The present invention also provides a method of forming shell cross-linked vesicles by adding a RAFT synthesized anionic homopolymer to a solution of the thermally responsive diblock copolymer. A method of forming interpolyelectrolyte complexed micelles or vesicles is also disclosed, the method comprising preparing by sequential aqueous RAFT polymerization a block copolymer comprised of N,N,-dimethyl acrylamide (DMA), N-acryloyl alanine (AAL) and N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM); dissolving the block copolymers into aqueous solution; raising the solution temperature above the lower critical solution temperature of the NIPAM block; allowing the micelle solution to equilibrate; adjusting the pH of the solution to about 5; adding a cationic polymer to the solution; and stirring the solution. The reaction is readily reversed by the addition of a salt solution. In another aspect of the invention a reversible shell cross-linked micelle of a triblock copolymer cross-linked with cystamine is disclosed where a cleaving agent can be added to cleave the micelles. The reaction can be reversed with the addition of tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine or dithiothreitol.
在一个方面,本发明涉及一种通过RAFT聚合制备的热响应性AB二嵌段共聚物,其中该二嵌段共聚物包括聚(N-(3-
氨丙基)甲基
丙烯酰胺盐酸盐)-嵌段-(N-异丙基
丙烯酰胺)。通过在室温下将二嵌段共聚物分子溶解在
水溶液中,并提高溶液温度形成纳米结构,例如囊泡或胶束。还公开了在
水中直接进行的未保护
氨基酸基单体的第一次RAFT聚合。本发明还提供了一种通过向热响应性二嵌段共聚物溶液中添加RAFT合成的阴离子均聚物来形成壳交联囊泡的方法。还公开了一种形成互聚电解质复合胶束或囊泡的方法,该方法包括通过顺序
水相RAFT聚合制备由N,N-二甲基
丙烯酰胺(
DMA)、N-
丙烯酰基丙
氨酸(
AAL)和N-异丙基
丙烯酰胺(NIP
AM)组成的嵌段共聚物;将嵌段共聚物溶解于
水溶液中;将溶液温度升至NIP
AM块的临界溶液温度以上;使胶束溶液达到平衡;将溶液pH值调整到约5;向溶液中加入阳离子聚合物;并搅拌溶液。通过添加盐溶液可以轻松地逆转反应。在发明的另一个方面,公开了一种可逆的通过半胱
氨酸交联的三嵌段共聚物的壳交联胶束,其中可以添加裂解剂来裂解胶束。通过添加三(2-羧乙基)
磷或二
硫代
己醇可以逆转反应。