Amphiphilic Fluorinated Unimer Micelles as Nanocarriers of Fluorescent Probes for Bioimaging
- Delledonne, Andrea
- Guazzelli, Elisa
- Pescina, Silvia
- Bianchera, Annalisa
- Galli, Giancarlo
- Martinelli, Elisa
- Sissa, Cristina
DOIAbstract
The unique self-assembly properties of unimer micelles are exploited for the preparation of fluorescent nanocarriers embedding hydrophobic fluorophores. Unimer micelles are constituted by a (meth)acrylate copolymer with oligoethyleneglycol and perflurohexylethyl side chains (PEGMA90-co-FA10) in which the hydrophilic and hydrophobic comonomers are statistically distributed along the polymeric backbone. Thanks to hydrophobic interactions in water, the amphiphilic copolymer forms small nanoparticles (<10 nm), with tunable properties and functionality. An easy procedure for the encapsulation of a small hydrophobic molecule (C153 fluorophore) within unimer micelles is presented. UV–vis, fluorescence, and fluorescence anisotropy spectroscopic exp...
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