Large-Scale Synthesis of Monodisperse Red Blood Cell (RBC)-Like Polymer Particles

Abstract

Red blood cell (RBC)-like particles have shown great interest as a model for the understanding of the cell behavior and as promising biomaterials in targeted drug delivery. In this study, a simple and versatile route was proposed for the large-scale synthesis of monodisperse and well-defined RBC-like PS particles using divinylbenzene (DVB) as the cross-linker and ethanol as reaction medium. RBC-like particles were obtained due to the asymmetric shrinkage of a cross-linked network during the phase separation process. An ordered self-assembly monolayer with the concave facing up at the air−water interface was also demonstrated.

Controllable synthesis of monodisperse nonspherical colloidal particles with cavity structures

“…As shown in Figure , raspberry‐like and spherical colloidal particles, instead of cavity structures, were produced. This suggests that the formation mechanism of the cavities of those colloidal particles in our case is not operative with the reported colloidal particles with similar shapes with addition of the cross‐linker …”

“…One of the key interests is the nonspherical cavity structures, they have attracted much attention because such particles may have some unique advantages . For example, single‐cavity colloidal particles with a plane on one side and a hollow cavity on the other side, which can increase the contact area and adhesion between drugs and diseased organs, so as for the field of catalysis .…”

“…And the photonic devices using these particles as the building blocks can provide stronger light control in special optical field . Seeded emulsion polymerization has been proved to be an efficient approach to prepare nonspherical cavity particles . However, in most reports, cross‐linker divinylbenzene (DVB) are often required, as the cross‐linked network would grow slower than the other polymers or result in elasticity of unequilibrium shrinkage with phase separation of different polymers to form cavities on the particle surface.…”

Synthesis of spike‐ball‐like polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) composite particles via seeded polymerization

“…The resulting pressure on the PS salami cores inside that act like a contraction network results in the movement of the PMMA/MMA polymer phase during polymerization. In this case, MMA oligoradicals and monomers tend to diffuse into the growing PMMA phase and swell and are incompatible with the PS phase, which is another process in favor of the growth of PMMA‐rich domains at the boundaries of phlaxal and smoothing of spikes. For these reasons the remaining monomer content and rate of polymerization play a crucial role in the growth of the spikes by creating the primary lobes and their growth.…”

“…This has made fine‐tuned production methods indispensable for advanced materials chemistry and processes . Diverse morphologies have been developed using several methods including film and particle stretching, micro‐molding, microfluidics and synthetic methods such as the usual polymerization methods and their seeded counterparts . Various morphologies containing lobes on their surfaces have been presented with no success in the production of lobes with a high aspect ratio.…”