High-quality nanocrystals formed in organic solvents can be completely solubilized in water using amphiphilic copolymers containing poly(ethylene glycol) or PEG. These copolymers are generated using a maleic anhydride coupling scheme that permits the coupling of a wide variety of PEG polymers, both unfunctionalized and functionalized, to hydrophobic tails. Thermogravimetric analysis, size exclu...

The objective of this work was to study the effect of fatty acid chain length grafted to methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) on self assembling properties of micelles for etoposide delivery. Three amphiphilic copolymers were synthesized using mPEG, myristic acid, stearic acid and behenic acid through an esteric linkage. The particle size and zeta potential of the micelles were determined by th...

Host-defense peptides (HDPs) are produced by eukaryotes to defend against bacterial infection, and diverse synthetic polymers have recently been explored as mimics of these natural peptides. HDPs are rich in both hydrophobic and cationic amino acid residues, and most HDP-mimetic polymers have therefore contained binary combinations of hydrophobic and cationic subunits. However, HDP-mimetic poly...

Amphiphilic boronic acid (BA)-substituted block copolymers have been utilized in biomedical applications through binding to saccharides, including glucose whereas the anaerobically produced metabolite lactate is unreported. Glucose requires basic conditions, while occurs at neutral physiological conditions. Herein, BA and used for first time convert solvated hydrophobic homopolymer amphiphilic ...

Capture and release of amphiphilic copolymers by a nano-sized polysaccharide gel (nanogel) was controlled by altering the hydrophobic binding affinity between the copolymer chains and nanogel. The antimicrobial activity of captured copolymer chains was suppressed, and regained upon release from the nanogel.

Cationic amphiphilic diblock copolymers were synthesized by RAFT polymerization and the nanostructure of their monolayers was investigated by π-A isotherm and X-ray reflectivity. Carpet layer (dense hydrophilic block layer) formation under the hydrophobic layer was confirmed and a “brush” layer was found beneath the carpet layer. However, the thickness of brush layer was much thinner than that ...

Di- and triblock non-ionic copolymers based on poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide) were studied for the stabilization of nanoparticles in water at high ionic strength. The effect of the molecular architecture (di- vs. triblock) of these amphiphilic copolymers was investigated by using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as probes for colloidal stability. The results demonstrate that both di- ...

Our research focuses on the characterization of the association and the properties in aqueous solution of nanostructures, particularly on nanotubes composed of amphiphilic alternating copolymers. These copolymers constitute a pH sensitive hydrophilic group (maleic anhydride) alternating with a hydrophobic group. To investigate the role of the nature of the hydrophobic groups on the association,...

BACKGROUND Curcumin (CUR) has been linked with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti amyloid, and antitumor effects, but its application is limited because of its low aqueous solubility and poor oral bioavailability. METHODS To improve its bioavailability and water solubility, we synthesized two series of poly (ε-Caprolactone)-poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (ε-Caprolactone) tribloc...

The assembly properties, thermal phase behavior and microdynamics of well-defined P(MEO2MA-co-OEGMA)-b-P4VP, (poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethylmethacrylate)-co-poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate))-b-poly(4-vinyl pyridine), in aqueous solution during heating are investigated in detail by dynamic light scattering (DLS), turbidity measurements, temperature-variable (1)H NMR and FTIR spectroscopy...