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Thermally Reversible Pluronic/Heparin Nanocapsules Exhibiting 1000-fold Volume Transition Hit : 358

Seung-Ho Choi, Ji-Hwan Lee, Sung-Min Choi and Tae Gwan Park

Vol. 22, P. 1758 - 1762, (2006)

 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la052549n

Abstract



Novel Pluronic/heparin composite nanocapsules that exhibit a thermally responsible swelling and deswelling behavior were synthesized. Pluronic F-127 preactivated with p-nitrophenyl chloroformate at its two terminal hydroxyl groups was dissolved in a methylene chloride phase. The organic phase was dispersed in an aqueous phase containing heparin. At an organic/aqueous interface, Pluronic-cross-linked heparin nanocapsules were produced. They exhibited a 1000-fold volume transition (ca. 336 nm at 25 ¡ÆC; ca. 32 nm at 37 ¡ÆC), and a reversible swelling and deswelling behavior when the temperature was cycled between 20 and 37 ¡ÆC. The reversible volume transition of Pluronic nanocapsules was caused by micellization and demicellization of cross-linked Pluronic polymer chains within the nanocapsule structure in response to temperature. The morphological characters were investigated with transmission electron microscopy and small angle neutron scattering. Pluronic/heparin nanocapsules had an aqueous fluid-filled hollow interior with a surrounding shell layer below the critical temperature, but they became a collapsed core/shell structure similar to that of Pluronic micelles above it.

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