Characterisation studies of novel block copolymer assemblies

In the last decade, block copolymers have attracted growing interest because of their ability to form a wide range of nanostructures through self assembly. These nanostructures could be designed to have miscellaneous properties, such as high stability, biocompatibility, functionality, capacity of carrying a variety of molecules and versatile architectures. Block copolymers can be prepared as hybrid systems with many diverse compounds including biomolecules. Moreover, they can be environment responsive, and release of components within the polymer can be controlled by stimuli. Due to these properties, block copolymers are finding applications in several areas including drug delivery, biotechnology and diagnostics. In this thesis it was aimed to characterise a variety of novel block copolymer assemblies in order to have a better understanding about the properties of these materials for potential applications in pharmaceutical SCIences. Assemblies including the block co-polymers of synthetic materials, the block co-polymers of synthetic materials and proteins, and the block co-polymers of synthetic materials and nucleic acids were characterised by AFM, and additionally by TEM, DLS, fluorescence spectrometry and zeta potential measurements. The morphologies and self-assembly mechanisms of the structures were investigated by altering the conditions (i.e. temperature, pH and buffer strength), and the real-time responses were recorded in order to be able to VI Abstract predict in vitro and in vivo behaviours of these systems. Also the effects of additional substances (i.e. biomolecules and reducing agents) to assembly/disassembly paths of the materials were inspected. The results of this project provide some useful and new insights about the behaviour of a range of block copolymer materials such as self-assembly properties of the synthetic block copolymer structures and the stability of these assemblies at various pH values, dynamic nature of protein-polymer conjugates across temperature changes, and response mechanisms of DNA-polymer conjugates across a number of stimuli (i.e. binding / hybridisation / strand breaking stimulus) which influence the assembly/disassembly paths of the materials. This information leads to better understanding of their potential applications as drug delivery systems, advanced responsive therapeutics, and diagnostics, and also designing better systems in future studies. VBEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo