TY - JOUR
T1 - Time-Resolved Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Studies of pH-Induced PMPC-PDPA Diblock Copolymer Self-Assembly
AU - Liao, Guoxing
AU - Toolan, Daniel T W
AU - Warren, Nicholas J
AU - Topham, Paul D
AU - Mykhaylyk, Oleksandr O
AU - Zhang, Yunjie
AU - Terrill, Nicholas J
AU - Wang, LinGe
N1 - This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Langmuir, copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society, after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c03950
PY - 2025/9/24
Y1 - 2025/9/24
N2 - Despite the potential of poly(2-methacryloyloxy ethyl phosphorylcholine)-poly(2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PMPC-PDPA) diblock copolymer nanoparticles for several biological applications, the exact mechanism of pH-induced self-assembly of the PMPC-PDPA chains into nanoparticles remains unclear, although it has been extensively studied by transmission electron microscopy. Here, we probe this process using time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (TR-SAXS) to gain an understanding of the phenomena that occur on the nanoscale. Modeling the TR-SAXS data indicated that spherical micelles and vesicles were formed at a pH as low as 3, and the spherical micelle and vesicle structures reformed at pH 5.5. At pH ∼5.5, insoluble PMPC -PDPA diblock copolymer precipitation was also observed by SAXS. A huge soluble PMPC -PDPA diblock copolymer reservoir might assist in PMPC -PDPA vesicle construction. Additionally, a potential pathway of vesicle construction by spherical micelle fusion was supported by the SAXS evidence.
AB - Despite the potential of poly(2-methacryloyloxy ethyl phosphorylcholine)-poly(2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PMPC-PDPA) diblock copolymer nanoparticles for several biological applications, the exact mechanism of pH-induced self-assembly of the PMPC-PDPA chains into nanoparticles remains unclear, although it has been extensively studied by transmission electron microscopy. Here, we probe this process using time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (TR-SAXS) to gain an understanding of the phenomena that occur on the nanoscale. Modeling the TR-SAXS data indicated that spherical micelles and vesicles were formed at a pH as low as 3, and the spherical micelle and vesicle structures reformed at pH 5.5. At pH ∼5.5, insoluble PMPC -PDPA diblock copolymer precipitation was also observed by SAXS. A huge soluble PMPC -PDPA diblock copolymer reservoir might assist in PMPC -PDPA vesicle construction. Additionally, a potential pathway of vesicle construction by spherical micelle fusion was supported by the SAXS evidence.
UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c03950
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105018022184&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c03950
DO - 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c03950
M3 - Article
C2 - 40990365
SN - 0743-7463
VL - 41
SP - 26967
EP - 26975
JO - Langmuir
JF - Langmuir
IS - 39
ER -