Estabrook Daniel A, Ennis Amanda F, Day Rachael A, Sletten Ellen M
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of California , 607 Charles E. Young, Dr. E. , Los Angeles , CA 90095 , USA . Email:
Chem Sci. 2019 Feb 27;10(14):3994-4003. doi: 10.1039/c8sc05735d. eCollection 2019 Apr 14.
Emulsions are dynamic materials that have been extensively employed within pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. However, their use beyond conventional applications has been hindered by difficulties in surface functionalization, and an inability to selectively control physicochemical properties. Here, we employ custom poly(2-oxazoline) block copolymers to overcome these limitations. We demonstrate that poly(2-oxazoline) copolymers can effectively stabilize nanoscale droplets of hydrocarbon and perfluorocarbon in water. The controlled living polymerization of poly(2-oxazoline)s allows for the incorporation of chemical handles into the surfactants such that covalent modification of the emulsion surface can be performed. Through post-emulsion modification of these new surfactants, we are able to access nanoemulsions with modified surface chemistries, yet consistent sizes. By decoupling size and surface charge, we explore structure-activity relationships involving the cellular uptake of nanoemulsions in both macrophage and non-macrophage cell lines. We conclude that the cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of poly(2-oxazoline)-stabilized droplets can be systematically tuned chemical modification of emulsion surfaces.
乳液是一种动态材料，已在制药、食品和化妆品行业中广泛应用。然而，其在传统应用之外的使用受到表面功能化困难以及无法选择性控制物理化学性质的阻碍。在此，我们采用定制的聚（2-恶唑啉）嵌段共聚物来克服这些限制。我们证明聚（2-恶唑啉）共聚物能够有效稳定水中碳氢化合物和全氟碳化合物的纳米级液滴。聚（2-恶唑啉）的可控活性聚合使得能够将化学官能团引入表面活性剂中，从而可以对乳液表面进行共价修饰。通过对这些新型表面活性剂进行乳液后修饰，我们能够获得具有修饰表面化学性质但尺寸一致的纳米乳液。通过解耦尺寸和表面电荷，我们探索了涉及纳米乳液在巨噬细胞和非巨噬细胞系中细胞摄取的构效关系。我们得出结论，聚（2-恶唑啉）稳定的液滴的细胞摄取和细胞毒性可以通过乳液表面的化学修饰进行系统调节。
