Synthesis of One-Component Nanostructured Polyion Complexes via Polymerization-Induced Electrostatic Self-Assembly

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Nanostructured polyion complexes (PICs) show promise for stabilizing and delivering therapeutic agents like drugs, proteins, and nucleic acids.
• Current self-assembly methods for PICs face limitations in scalability and reproducibility, hindering practical applications.
• Existing one-component PICs are primarily limited to spherical morphologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient and scalable strategy for preparing one-component low-dimensional PICs with controlled morphologies.
• To explore the potential of visible-light-mediated RAFT polymerization for PIC synthesis.
• To demonstrate the versatility of the new method in producing various PIC shapes.

Main Methods:

• Visible-light-mediated reversible-addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) iterative polymerization of oppositely charged monomers.
• Reactions conducted at 25% w/w solids in water at 25 °C.
• Investigated sphere-film-vesicle transitions and charge-/medium-tunable shape selectivity.

Main Results:

• Successfully prepared one-component PICs in various low-dimensional forms, including nanowires, ultrathin films, vesicles, tubes, and surface-charged vesicles.
• Demonstrated vesicle-polymerization, a novel outcome achieved with this strategy.
• Achieved high reproducibility and tunable shape selectivity based on charge and medium conditions.

Conclusions:

• The developed strategy offers a general and scalable platform for producing one-component low-dimensional PICs.
• The method allows for tailorable morphologies and high reproducibility under eco-friendly conditions.
• This approach facilitates the commercial viability of advanced PIC materials for diverse applications.