Polymersomes made of biodegradable triblock copolymers based on poly(fumaric acid-co-sebacoyl chloride)/PEG (PEG-co-P(FA/SC)-co-PEG) were prepared and studied in aqueous solutions. TEM confirmed the formation of vesicles in aqueous media. Aggregation behavior of the copolymers was studied by fluorescence spectroscopy of 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid, and the critical aggregation concentration (c.a.c.) of the copolymer was found to be ~26.2 μM indicating desirable stability of the vesicles. Dynamic light scattering revealed that the size of the vesicles was distributed within the range of 170-270 nm. Turbidity measurements confirmed the relative short-term stability of the polymersomes. Carboxyfluorescein, a hydrophilic compound, was simply encapsulated in the vesicles during polymersome preparation. The release of encapsulant from the polymersomes at 25 and 37 oC lasted about 3 weeks, and the rate of release followed a first-order kinetics. The release is speculated to be primarily carried out through diffusion. These results confirm that these polymersomes are promising as controlled-release carriers of various drugs.

Keywords: block copolymer; dispersion; particle size distribution; critical aggregation concentration.