Synthesis of Core–Shell Nanoparticles with Polystyrene Core and PEO Corona from Core-Crosslinked Micelles by the RAFT Process

Hien T. T. Duong; T. L. Uyen Nguyen; Josef Kumpfmüller; Martina H. Stenzel

doi:10.1071/CH10127

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Synthesis of Core–Shell Nanoparticles with Polystyrene Core and PEO Corona from Core-Crosslinked Micelles by the RAFT Process

Hien T. T. Duong ^A , T. L. Uyen Nguyen ^A , Josef Kumpfmüller ^B and Martina H. Stenzel ^A ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

^B Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Getreidemarkt 9/163/MC, A-1060 Vienna, Austria.

^C Corresponding author. Email: M.Stenzel@unsw.edu.au

Australian Journal of Chemistry 63(8) 1210-1218 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH10127
Submitted: 18 March 2010 Accepted: 13 April 2010 Published: 10 August 2010

Abstract

Core–shell nanoparticles have been synthesized by core crosslinking of micelles. The underlying block copolymer, poly(oligo(ethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate))-block-polystyrene (POEGMA-b-PS), was synthesized successfully by the reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) process, using POEGMA as a macro-RAFT agent. The block copolymers were self-assembled into micelles in aqueous media and the resulting micelles and the RAFT endgroup, located in the core of the micelle, were used for the subsequent crosslinking step using a crosslinker, divinyl benzene (DVB). The rate of the crosslinking reaction was found to be slow with less than 20% conversion being achieved after 72 h. Nevertheless, crosslinked micelles were obtained and only a small fraction of free block copolymers remained. Cytotoxicity tests confirmed the biocompatibility of the prepared core-crosslinked micelles. In addition the crosslinked micelles were taken up by L929 cells without causing any signs of cell damage.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the Australian Research Council (ARC) for financial support (DPO771155) and the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD) for research support. M. H. Stenzel acknowledges an ARC Future Fellowship. The authors are very thankful to Professor Per Zetterlund for helpful discussions.

References

Synthesis of Core–Shell Nanoparticles with Polystyrene Core and PEO Corona from Core-Crosslinked Micelles by the RAFT Process

Abstract

Acknowledgement

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