Polymeric micelles, consisting of hydrophilic shell and hydrophobic core, are used as a drug delivery system (DDS), because the core can encapsulate hydrophilic drugs and the shell can provide bio-compatibility, such as prolonged circulation time in blood. We prepared a series of block copolymers comprising poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) block with the fixed chain length (Mw = 5200, and 12000) and partially benzyl esterified polyaspartic acid with changing its chain length and benzyl esterification ratio. By use of synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and field-flow fractionation combined with light scattering (FFF-LS), we determined the core and shell sizes, and the aggregation numbers. For the same sample, we measured the blood circulation time in mice. We found that the PEG chain density of the water/shell interface is the major structural factor to determine the prolonged circulation time in blood.

What is the major structural aspect to determine the blood circulation time for polymeric micelles

247th National Meeting (2014)

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