Quaternization-induced micellization of cationic glycopolymers

Abstract

Quaternization-induced self-assembly was developed as a strategy for the fabrication of sugar-containing nanoassemblies in water. The quaternization reaction of a series of block copolymers of PCL-b-P4VP (PCL, polycaprolactone block; P4VP, polyvinylpyridine block) and PMA-b-PDEAEMA (PMA, polymethacrylate block; PDEAEMA, poly(2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) block) with unprotected monosaccharides in water resulted in the glycol assemblies PCL-b-P4VP-G and PMA-b-PEAEMA-G, i.e., vesicles or micelles with a sugar wall. Furthermore, the binding ability of glycol assemblies against the representative lectin, concanavalin A, was investigated. Finally, we investigated the antibacterial activity and hemolysis ability of glycol micelles with various cationic amine moieties, and the mechanism for enhanced biocompatibility was explored.