Polymersomes, artificial vesicles made out of amphiphilic block copolymers, have emerged as multifunctional nanostructures in the last decade. The possibility to tailor the chemical design of the membrane allows for a good control over the shape and the stiffness of the vesicle. This has been demonstrated in a number of reports regarding conformational changes of polymeric assemblies. For instance, by applying an osmotic pressure difference over the membrane of polymersomes consisting of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-polystyrene  (PEG-b-PS) block copolymers we managed to construct bowl-shaped vesicles containing a mouth, so called stomatocytes. This transformation was proven to be reversible in a controlled way by the introduction of plasticizing agents for the hydrophobic segment of the membrane.In this presentation we show the latest results of our enduring investigation towards shape transformations of polymeric vesicles. We demonstrate that the addition of an excess of a bicyclo[6.1.0]nonyne (BCN)-crosslinker to a dispersion of polymersomes consisting of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(styrene-co-4-vinylbenzyl azide) (PEG44-b---P(S-co-4-VBA) polymers, can cause them  to stretch into a tubular morphology. We show that this shape transition strongly depends on the architecture of the block copolymer and the concentration of the crosslinker. Furthermore, we show that the elongation can be reversed by means of a crosslinker with a cleavable disulfide bond. 

Tubular polymersomes: A crosslinker-induced shape transformation

247th National Meeting (2014)

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