Vesicle aggregation in aqueous mixtures of negatively charged polyelectrolyte and conventional cationic surfactant

Synthesis and characterization of imidized poly(styrene‐maleic anhydride) nanoparticles in stable aqueous dispersion

“…Amphiphilic copolymers with hydrophobic polymer blocks coupled to a hydrophilic polymer part, revealed excellent stabilizing abilities and can replace surfactants 3. For example, poly(styrene‐co‐maleic anhydride) or SMA copolymers can be used as low‐molecular weight dispersing agents: 4, 5 they act as a surfactant during emulsion polymerization of hydrophobic polymers into nanosized latexes,6 prevent vesicle aggregation,7 and provide good miscibility or stabilizing effects when added to alumina nanoparticles,8 polyglutarimide,9 artificial latexes,10 styrene‐acrylonitrile copolymers,11 or poly(methyl methacrylate) 12…”

Inter-vesicle polymerization using nonionic oxyethylene-hydrogenated castor oil

“…For instance, Walde and co-workers [28] studied the interactions of nonionic vesicles, reporting that the aggregation and fusion of the nonionic vesicles is temperature dependent. Huang and co-workers [29] observed a catanionic-vesicle aggregation induced by a temperature increase, suggesting that the increase in the temperature promotes the removal of hydration water, which in turn results in a decrease in the hydration repulsion between vesicles.…”

Step-wise linking of vesicles by combining reversible and irreversible linkers – towards total control on vesicle aggregate sizes

“…For some methods the various aggregate sizes that can be produced are very limited, 15,16 while in other methods only the speed of aggregation can be controlled, 17 or requires precise timing of the addition of polymer to stop the aggregation process. 20 In addition, on the odd chance previous methods succeed in producing vesicle aggregates of specific sizes, subsequent modifications such as a controlled continuation of the aggregation, is usually not an option. 20 Our approach offers a simple, universal and effective alternative to obtain small vesicle aggregates of sizes to one's choice.…”

“…14 Aggregation of vesicles has been studied extensively as well. Linkers such as biotin and streptavidin, [15][16][17] DNA with sticky ends, 18 polyelectrolytes (with charged vesicles), [19][20][21] and recently a thermosensitive surfactant, C18-pNIPAm, 15 have all been used to induce vesicle aggregation. However, control of the size of vesicle aggregates remains limited, or very hard to accomplish.…”