Bioactive emulsion polymerization

Both W/O/W and O/W/O emulsions have attracted considerable attention because of their potential applications in food science [4-7], cosmetics [8-10] and pharmaceutics [11]. In particular, there have been many studies on the pharmaceutical applications of W/O/W emulsions because the internal aqueous droplets can contain water-soluble drugs for controlled release or targetable delivery [12-14]. Solid microcapsules loaded vhth bioactive polymers are also prepared from W/O/W droplets by the solvent evaporation method [15-18]. Other applications studied thus far include the synthesis of shaped polymeric microparticles [19] and the use of the intermediating phase as the permeation membrane in separation technology [20-25]. 

Figure 5 Polymerization of monomers bearing unprotected carbohydrates using emulsion conditions, (a) Monomers with unprotected carbohydrate groups can be polymerized using defined initiator 8. (b) Bioactive polymers can be generated under emulsion conditions.

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