Large-Scale Synthesis of Monodisperse Red Blood Cell (RBC)-Like Polymer Particles

Red blood cell (RBC)-like particles have shown great interest as a model for the understanding of the cell behavior and as promising biomaterials in targeted drug delivery. In this study, a simple and versatile route was proposed for the large-scale synthesis of monodisperse and well-defined RBC-like PS particles using divinylbenzene (DVB) as the cross-linker and ethanol as reaction medium. RBC-like particles were obtained due to the asymmetric shrinkage of a cross-linked network during the phase separation process. An ordered self-assembly monolayer with the concave facing up at the air-water interface was also demonstrated.