Synthesis of photolabile fluorescent polymeric micelles

A new amphiphilic block copolymers were synthesized with the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. Then, the micelle structures were fabricated with a self-assembly method for application in nanocarriers and sensing. The fluorescent intensity was increased by a factor of 4 in the micelle solution due to more stacked pyrene moieties. The core-shell structure of the micelle was confirmed by HR-TEM images. The pyrene moieties were positioned in the core of the micelle, and the surface consisted of hydrophilic PMMA blocks. The ester bond of the polymer backbone was breakable by irradiation with UV light. Therefore, the micelle structure was deformed after UV irradiation, and the excimer peak was drastically reduced as the monomer peak appeared. The deformation of micelle structures was clearly confirmed by FE-SEM and NMR analysis. These photolabile polymeric micelles may be widely useful for photo-stimulative nanocarriers as well as for the design of new functional micelles with many other chromophores.