Multicompartment Micro- and Nanoparticles Using Supramolecular Assembly of Core-Shell Bottlebrush Polymers

ACS Macro Lett. 2023 Nov 21;12(11):1589-1594. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.3c00580. Epub 2023 Nov 9.

Abstract

Multicompartment particles have been produced to date by the self-assembly of linear multiblock polymers. Besides the large diversity of structures that can be obtained with this approach, these are highly sensitive to dilution and environmental factors. Here we show that using core-shell bottlebrush polymers with a hydrophobic polyester core as starting materials it is possible to create compartmentalized particles from the micrometer size down to the molecular scale. These polymers can be used as building blocks to create multicompartment particles and networks via a self-assembly process. The polymers can encapsulate active compounds and slowly degrade in water into polymeric micelles, making them promising materials for drug delivery applications.