Synthesis and self-assembly behavior of amphiphilic diblock copolymer dextran-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (DEX-b-PCL) in aqueous media

An amphiphilic diblock copolymer, dextran-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (DEX-b-PCL), with a series of welldefined chain lengths of each block was prepared by conjugating a dextran chain with a PCL block via aza-Michael addition reaction under mild conditions. For the dextran block, samples with relatively uniform molecular weight, 3.5 and 6.0 kDa, were used, and the PCL blocks were prepared via ring-opening polymerization at defined ratios of ε-caprolactone to initiator in order to give copolymers with mass fraction of dextran (fDEX) ranging from 0.16 to 0.45. When these copolymers were allowed to self-assemble in aqueous solution, the morphology of assembled aggregates varied as a function of fDEX when characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), fluorescence microscope (FM) and dynamic laser scattering (DLS). As fDEX decreases gradually from 0.45 to 0.16, the morphology of the copolymer assembly changes from spherical micelles to worm-like micelles and eventually to polymersomes, together with an increase in particle sizes