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Published on: December 23, 2016
Photoresponsive Discoidal Polymersomes With Tracelessly Crosslinkable Bilayers for Intracellular Drug Delivery
Wenjin Li1, Mingxuan Hou1, Minglong Chen1
1State Key Laboratory of Precision and Intelligent Chemistry, and Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)
|June 7, 2026
Summary
Researchers created rare, disc-shaped polymersomes using block copolymers. Light exposure crosslinks these vesicles, preserving shape and enabling controlled cargo release for advanced therapeutics.
Area of Science:
- Biomimetic nanomaterials
- Polymer self-assembly
- Stimuli-responsive systems
Background:
- Hierarchical biological structures inspire synthetic nanomaterials.
- Bottom-up synthesis of nonspherical polymersomes, like discocytes, is challenging.
- Stimuli-responsive control over vesicle shape is underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a bottom-up strategy for synthesizing nonspherical polymersomes.
- To achieve stimuli-responsive control over vesicle morphology and function.
- To explore the potential of biomimetic discocyte-shaped polymersomes for therapeutic applications.
Main Methods:
- Self-assembly of photoresponsive block copolymers (BCPs) with photolabile thiocoumarin units.
- Cosolvent-mediated self-assembly tuned by block ratio and water addition rate.
- Visible light irradiation to trigger thiocoumarin cleavage, amidation, and in situ crosslinking.
Main Results:
- Successfully synthesized five distinct nanostructures, including rare polymersome discocytes (PDs).
- Discocytes demonstrated superior cellular uptake compared to other morphologies.
- Photo-induced crosslinking preserved discocyte shape and increased membrane permeability for controlled cargo release.
Conclusions:
- Established a general bottom-up strategy for shape-engineered, stimuli-responsive vesicles.
- Demonstrated the potential of biomimetic discocyte polymersomes for therapeutic and diagnostic platforms.
- Photoresponsive BCPs offer a versatile platform for advanced nanomaterial design.
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