Glucose-Responsive Hybrid Nanoassemblies in Aqueous Solutions: Ordered Phenylboronic Acid within Intermixed...

Coassembly behavior of the double hydrophilic block copolymer poly(4-hydroxystyrene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PHOS-PEO) with three amphiphilic phenylboronic acids (PBA) differing in hydrophobicity, 4-dodecyloxyphenylboronic acid (C12), 4-octyloxyphenylboronic acid (C8), and 4-isobutoxyphenylboronic acid (i-Bu) was studied in alkaline aqueous solutions and in mixtures of NaOHaq/THF by spin-echo (1)H NMR spectroscopy, dynamic and electrophoretic light scattering, and SAXS. The study reveals that only the coassembly of C12 with PHOS-PEO provides spherical nanoparticles with intermixed PHOS and PEO blocks, containing densely packed C12 micelles. NMR measurements have shown that spatial proximity of PHOS-PEO and C12 leads to the formation of ester bonds between -OH of PHOS block and hydroxyl groups of -B(OH)2. Due to the presence of PBA moieties, the release of compounds with 1,2- or 1,3-dihydroxy groups loaded in the coassembled PHOS-PEO/PBA nanoparticles by covalent binding to PBA can be triggered by addition of a surplus of glucose that bind to PBA competitively. The latter feature has been confirmed by fluorescence measurements using Alizarin Red as a model compound. Nanoparticles were proved to exhibit swelling in response to glucose as detected by light scattering.