DOI: 10.1126/science.1074972. Polymer Vesicles [Penn]

Polymer Vesicles

10.1126/science.1074972

Crossref journal-article

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Science (221)

Abstract

Vesicles are microscopic sacs that enclose a volume with a molecularly thin membrane. The membranes are generally self-directed assemblies of amphiphilic molecules with a dual hydrophilic-hydrophobic character. Biological amphiphiles form vesicles central to cell function and are principally lipids of molecular weight less than 1 kilodalton. Block copolymers that mimic lipid amphiphilicity can also self-assemble into vesicles in dilute solution, but polymer molecular weights can be orders of magnitude greater than those of lipids. Structural features of vesicles, as well as properties including stability, fluidity, and intermembrane dynamics, are greatly influenced by characteristics of the polymers. Future applications of polymer vesicles will rely on exploiting unique property-performance relations, but results to date already underscore the fact that biologically derived vesicles are but a small subset of what is physically and chemically possible.

Bibliography

Discher, D. E., & Eisenberg, A. (2002). Polymer Vesicles. Science, 297(5583), 967â973.

Authors 2

Dennis E. Discher (first)
Adi Eisenberg (additional)

References 62 Referenced 3,413

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J. Israelachvili Intermolecular and Surface Forces (Academic Press New York ed. 2 1991).
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A. Choucair A. Kycia A. Eisenberg in preparation.
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The hydrophobic PBD and PEE blocks studied are closely related to biocompatible polyprenyl chains found ubiquitously in animal and plant membranes (34).
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10.1021/ma0112063
Dimova R., Seifert U., Pouligny B., Forster S., Döbereiner H.-G., Eur. Phys. J. E 7, 241 (2002). / Eur. Phys. J. E by Dimova R. (2002)
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Polydispersities are generally reported as weight-average MW divided by number-average MW ; typical ratios for the copolymers of Fig. 1 are ∼1.05 to 1.15. A value of 1.7 was reported for the triblock copolymer of (41).
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PEO-PLA vesicles have been observed with a copolymer having f PEO ≈ 33% and MW ≈ 6 kg/mol (59).
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P. Photos B. M. Discher L. Bacakova F. S. Bates D. E. Discher in preparation.
Support for our work and interest (D.E.D.) in polymer vesicles was provided by the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSFC) at the University of Pennsylvania and by an NSF-PECASE award (D.E.D.).

Dates

Type	When
Created	22 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 1, 2002, 3:34 p.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 9, 2024, 9:54 p.m.)
Indexed	2 minutes ago (Aug. 28, 2025, 8:41 a.m.)
Issued	23 years ago (Aug. 9, 2002)
Published	23 years ago (Aug. 9, 2002)
Published Print	23 years ago (Aug. 9, 2002)

Funders 0

None

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