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Surface-initiated polymerization within mesoporous silica spheres for the modular design of charge-neutral polymer
Markus Müllner1, Jiwei Cui, Ka Fung Noi
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, Australia.
Abstract:
We report a templating approach for the preparation of functional polymer replica particles via surface-initiated polymerization in mesoporous silica templates. Subsequent removal of the template resulted in discrete polymer particles. Furthermore, redox-responsive replica particles could be engineered to disassemble in a reducing environment. Particles, made of poly(methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC) or poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate] (POEGMA), exhibited very low association to human cancer cells (below 5%), which renders the reported charge-neutral polymer particles a modular and versatile class of highly functional carriers with potential applications in drug delivery.
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