Polymersomes are nano polymeric structures that have gained tremendous interest since they can be used as versatile carriers in biomedical applications. This thesis aims to synthesise triblock methacrylate copolymers with different chemistry and composition, to investigate the composition effect on the properties of fabricated polymersomes. Specifically, three different families of amphiphilic block copolymers have been successfully synthesised via Group Transfer Polymerisation, and the corresponding polymersomes have been formed by self-assembly of the copolymers and the properties of polymersomes have been investigated.
i) In the first study, five triblock copolymers with different compositions have been synthesised using hydrophilic monomer tri(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (TEGMA) and hydrophobic, pH-responsive monomer 2-(diethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DEAEMA);
ii) In the second study, six triblock copolymers with different compositions have been synthesised, the hydrophilic blocks are formed by monomer tri(ethylene glycol)ethyl ether methacrylate (TEGEMA) and hydrophobic blocks are statistically formed by monomer 2-(diethylamino ethyl methacrylate) (DEAEMA) and n-butyl methacrylate (BuMA).
iii) In the third study, six triblock copolymers with different compositions have been synthesised, hydrophilic blocks have been synthesised from monomer penta(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA), hydrophobic blocks have been synthesised using 2-(diethylamino ethyl methacrylate) (DEAEMA) and n-butyl methacrylate (BuMA), the two hydrophobic monomers have been mixed statistically.
In conclusion, the composition of the block copolymers is proven to affect the properties of polymersomes, in: i) thermoresponsiveness; ii) pH-responsiveness; iii) size; iii) membrane thickness; iv) encapsulation efficiency and release of molecules.