Hydrophobic core block

Polymer micelles are nanometer sized (usually several tens of nanometers) self-assembled particles having a hydrophobic core and hydrophilic outer shell composed of amphiphilic AB- or ABA-type block copolymers, and are utilized as drug delivery vehicles. The first polymer micelle-type drug delivery vehicle was made of PEG-b-poly(aspartic acid) (PEG-b-PAsp), immobilizing the hydro-phobic anticancer drugDXR [188-191]. After this achievement by Kataoka et al., a great amount of research on polymer micelles has been carried out, and there are several reviews available on the subject [192-194]. 

Fig. 30 Types of nanocarriers for drug delivery, (a) Polymeric nanoparticles polymeric nanoparticles in which drugs are conjugated to or encapsulated in polymers, (b) Polymeric micelles amphiphilic block copolymers that form nanosized core-shell structures in aqueous solution. The hydrophobic core region serves as a reservoir for hydrophobic drugs, whereas hydrophilic shell region stabilizes the hydrophobic core and renders the polymer water-soluble.

Several block and graft copolymers have been shown to form stable aggregates under thermodynamically poor solvent conditions, as a result of differences in the solubility of different parts of a macromolecule. Whereas in a good solvent the experimentally measured value of A2 for a copolymer represents the balance of all the multiple interactions, under thermodynamically poor conditions A2 is mainly determined by the interaction of the groups situated on the polymer-solvent interface. Groups which form the hydrophobic core and are not in a contact with the solvent do not contribute significantly to the solution properties of the copolymer. 

All the described properties of such a s-fraction of poly(NVCl-co-NVIAz) synthesized at the temperature above the PST of the reacting system allowed us to draw the conclusion that the chains of this type had the comonomer sequence, which at the temperatures above the conformation transition facilitated the formation of polymer particles, where H-blocks are in the interior shielded by the P-blocks against additional intermolecular association. Such a behaviour of this copolymer in aqueous media is close to that of oligomeric proteins similar to casein [46] possessing a rather hydrophobic core surrounded by the polar segments. 

Water-soluble thermoresponsive PNIPAM and PMVE blocks have been associated to hydrophobic blocks [140,141], Micelles have been prepared in water in which the hydrophobic core is surrounded by PMVE or PNIPAM... 

The use of sequence information to frame structural, functional, and evolutionary hypotheses represents a major challenge for the postgeno-mic era. Central to an understanding of the evolution of sequence families is the concept of the domain a structurally conserved, genetically mobile unit. When viewed at the three-dimensional level of protein structure, a domain is a compact arrangement of secondary structures connected by linker polypeptides. It usually folds independently and possesses a relatively hydrophobic core (Janin and Chothia, 1985). The importance of domains is that they cannot be divided into smaller units— they represent a fundamental building block that can be used to understand the evolution of proteins. 

Amphiphilic star-block copolymers can be prepared by adding a polycyclic diene such as 238 to a living diblock copolymer made by sequential ROMP of (i) the monomer in Table 9 with R = COOSiMe3, and (ii) norbomene. The trimethylsilyl ester groups are then converted to carboxylic acids by soaking the cast film of the polymer in water for 2-3 days to give a product with a hydrophobic core of polynorbomene and a hydrophilic outer layer126,502. 

An important group of surface-active nonionic synthetic polymers (nonionic emulsifiers) are ethylene oxide (block) (co)polymers. They have been widely researched and some interesting results on their behavior in water have been obtained [33]. Amphiphilic PEO copolymers are currently of interest in such applications as polymer emulsifiers, rheology modifiers, drug carriers, polymer blend compatibilizers, and phase transfer catalysts. Examples are block copolymers of EO and styrene, graft or block copolymers with PEO branches anchored to a hydrophilic backbone, and star-shaped macromolecules with PEO arms attached to a hydrophobic core. One of the most interesting findings is that some block micelle systems in fact exists in two populations, i.e., a bimodal size distribution. 

Savb et al. (2006) report a method to evaluate micelle integrity irottitro andin vivo. PEO-b-PCL micelles were synthesized with a Luorogenic dye, Luorescein-5-carbonyl azide diacetate, covalently attached to the PCL block. In the hydrophobic core of intact micelles, the dye remained... 

Let us compare the kinetics of the selective-solvent-induced collapse of protein-like copolymers with the collapse of random and random-block copolymers [18]. Several kinetic criteria were examined using Langevin molecular dynamics simulations. There are some general results, which seem to be independent of the nature of interactions or the kinetic criteria monitored during the collapse. Here, we restrict our analysis to the evolution of the characteristic ratio f = (Rgp/Rg ) that combines the partial mean-square radii of gyration calculated separately for hydrophobic and hydrophilic beads, k2n and Rg . This ratio takes into account both the properties of compactness and solubility for a heteropolymer globule [70] (compactness is directly related to the mean size of the hydrophobic core, whereas solubility should be dependent on the size of the hydrophilic shell). 

In dilute aqueous solutions, polyelectrolyte block copolymers self-assemble into micelles consisting of a hydrophobic core and a polyelectrolyte shell. The study of their structural properties is expected to provide a basic understanding of the properties of dense polyelectrolyte layers, electro-steric stabilization mechanisms, and actuator functions based on variations in the electrostatic interactions. 

Kapui et al. prepared a novel type of polypyrrole films [168]. The film was impregnated by spherical styrene-methacrylic acid block copolymer micelles with a hydrophobic core of 18 nm and a hydrophilic corona of 100 nm. The properties of the micelle-doped polypyrrole films were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and SECM. It was found that the self-assembled block copolymer micelles in polypyrrole behave as polyanions and the charge compensation by cations has been identified during electrochemical switching of the polymer films. 

These block-copolymers form micelles in aqueous solution with spherical core/shell structures and diameters around 20-40 nm (Figure 5.9). The hydrophobic core of these micelles can be loaded with a hydrophobic drug such as doxorubicin. After intravenous administration the micelles tend to accumulate at tumor sites and release the entrapped drug there. Some of the characteristics of these micellar systems are listed in Table 5.5. 

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