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Published on: June 20, 2019
Morphological control of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(epsilon-caprolactone) copolymer aggregates in aqueous
Nichole Fairley1, Bryan Hoang, Christine Allen
1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract:
In aqueous solution, it was found that the amphiphilic copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(caprolactone) (PEG(5000)-b-PCL(4100)) formed different morphologies, including long rod-like, short rod-like, or spherical aggregates, when the copolymer concentration was increased. Nearly identical morphologies were observed with the addition of increasing amounts of PEG(2000)-distearoylphosphoethanolamine (PEG(2000)-DSPE) to the copolymer. The morphologies of the aggregates in solution were confirmed by negative stain transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cryogenic-TEM (cryo-TEM). The critical micelle concentrations of the PEG(5000)-b-PCL(4100) copolymer, PEG(2000)-DSPE and a mixture of the two materials (PEG(5000)-b-PCL 4100/PEG(2000)-DSPE) were evaluated to determine the thermodynamic stability of the aggregates. Differential scanning calorimetry was performed to gain insight into the degree of mixing of PEG(5000)-b-PCL(4100) and PEG(2000)-DSPE. Overall, combining PEG(5000)-b-PCL(4100) and PEG(2000)-DSPE produced a single population of mixed micelles with rod-like or spherical morphologies depending on the material composition and concentration.
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