Functional Hybrid Glyconanocapsules by a One-Pot Nanoprecipitation Process

Herein, we report on one-pot fabrication of oil-filled nanocapsules wrapped with both RAFT-made glycopolymers and neutral polysaccharides (dextran and pullulan). We have made use of the nanoprecipitation technique, relying on coprecipitation of both oil and polymers in conditions thoroughly established from phase diagrams' interpretation. Mixed mono- or multilayered nanocapsules were obtained through simultaneous or sequential nanoprecipitations, respectively. Incorporation of synthetic glycopolymer chains allows for precisely tailoring the dimensions of the nanocapsules (size and membrane thickness of the polymeric shell), whereas the insertion of polysaccharides enables to tune the (bio)degradability of the nanocapsules. Shell-functionalized and/or core-loaded capsules could also be achieved in a similar one-pot process, by introducing a drug and/or biotin in the organic and aqueous phase, respectively.