Quantitative Synthesis Of Temperature-Responsive Polymersomes By Multiblock Polymerization (Vol 60, 15682, 2021)

The current challenge for polymersomes is to prepare amphiphilic block polymers with not only well-defined molecular weight, but also precisely high-order multiblock structure in terms of the distribution of monomeric units along the chain. Here, we describe a synthesis of temperature-responsive polymersomes with precisely defined membrane structures using high-precision amphiphilic multiblock polymer via aqueous single electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) in which poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) macromolecules are used as initiators. We develop a one-pot, rapid and multistep sequential polymerization process with yields >99% within 30 min for each block, giving access to a wide range of high-precision multiblock polymers with very narrow molecular weight distributions (Ð ≤ 1.14). Synthesized multiblock polymers are used to form nano-sized polymersomes which are highly promising as smart carriers for high loading and triggered release of biopharmaceutics such as pharmaceutical proteins and peptides. This synthesis approach is environmentally friendly, fully translation and thus represents a significant advance in the design and synthesis of a new generation of polymer nanomaterials with precisely defined structures, which is highly attractive for applications in nanotechnology.