Text

theses

The self-assembly of amphiphilic diblock copolymers into polymeric vesicles, commonly known as polymersomes, has attracted significant research interest due the broad applicability in various fields ranging from drug delivery to nanoreactors. Polymersomes are fully synthetic robust vesicles comprised of a hydrophilic core and bilayer, hydrophobic membrane; this provides the ability for stable, dual-encapsulation of a variety of molecules within the two regions. While most diblock copolymers yield vesicles that are inherently insensitive to stimuli, efforts have been made to design polymersomes that rupture in response to temperature, pH, and light such that encapsulated cargo can be released on demand. Light is a particularly attractive trigger for initiating cargo release as it can be controlled in a high spatiotemporal fashion and can be minimally damaging and deeply penetrating in biological systems. In this work, methods have been developed for triggered encapsulant release using ultrafast, single-pulse irradiation with visible and near infrared light to provide a non-invasive method of achieving spatial and temporal control. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been incorporated into the vesicle membrane as photosensitizers to allow for wavelength specific vesicle rupture congruent with the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the particle. Thus, the encapsulation of gold nanorods provides the ability to shift the polymersome response wavelength to the near-infrared. Initial studies were performed on micron-scale polymersomes to facilitate release studies at the single vesicle level. Additonally, scale down to the nano-regime was optimized for future applications in biomedical systems where diameters range from 80-200 nm deemed optimal for in-vivo drug delivery.

ETD_9986

M.S.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-hnj3-yn81

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.