Compartmentalized Polyampholyte Microgels by Depletion Flocculation and Coacervation of Nanogels in Emulsion Droplets

In pH‐responsive drug carriers, the distribution of charges has been proven to affect delivery efficiency but is difficult to control and verify. Herein, we fabricate polyampholyte nanogel‐in‐microgel colloids (NiM−C) and show that the arrangement of the nanogels (NG) can easily be manipulated by ad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2023-09, Vol.62 (36), p.e202304908-n/a
Main Authors: Mathews, Hannah F., Pieper, Maria I., Jung, Se‐Hyeong, Pich, Andrij
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coacervation
Colloids
Confocal microscopy
Cooperative Effects
Droplets
Drug carriers
Drug delivery
Emulsion polymerization
Flocculation
Fluorescent dyes
Fluorescent indicators
Ionic strength
Janus-like Phase-Separation
Microfluidics
Microgels
pH effects
Polyampholyte
Polyampholytes
Polymerization
Responsive Materials
Scanning microscopy
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Summary:In pH‐responsive drug carriers, the distribution of charges has been proven to affect delivery efficiency but is difficult to control and verify. Herein, we fabricate polyampholyte nanogel‐in‐microgel colloids (NiM−C) and show that the arrangement of the nanogels (NG) can easily be manipulated by adapting synthesis conditions. Positively and negatively charged pH‐responsive NG are synthesized by precipitation polymerization and labelled with different fluorescent dyes. The obtained NG are integrated into microgel (MG) networks by subsequent inverse emulsion polymerization in droplet‐based microfluidics. By confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), we verify that depending on NG concentration, pH value and ionic strength, NiM−C with different NG arrangements are obtained, including Janus‐like phase‐separation of NG, statistical distribution of NG, and core–shell arrangements. Our approach is a major step towards uptake and release of oppositely charged (drug) molecules. Novel step‐by‐step approach for the synthesis of polyampholyte nanogel‐in‐microgel colloids (NiM−C) was developed by incorporating nanogels into microgels via droplet‐based microfluidics yielding different internal morphologies including phase‐separated coacervates, statistically distributed coacervates and core–shell like arrangements by variation of synthesis parameters such as nanogel concentration, ionic strength and pH value.
ISSN:1433-7851
1521-3773
DOI:10.1002/anie.202304908