Controlled formulation of multi-compartment polymer vesicles based on poly(trimethylene carbonate) copolymers

Abstract

Compartmentalization in living systems is essential for maintaining intracellular homeostasis and isolating biochemical reactions. Inspired by biomembranes, amphiphilic block copolymer assemblies serve as a promising platform for biomimetic multi-compartment structures. However, controllable fusion of polymer vesicles still suffers from challenges such as inefficient regulation and difficult fabrication of well-defined structures. In this work, controllable construction of multi-compartment vesicles from naphthyl-functionalized amphiphilic block copolymers was achieved by tuning solvent composition and osmotic pressure. In addition, the multi-compartment vesicles exhibited excellent near-infrared light-harvesting properties, with higher singlet oxygen yield than unilamellar vesicles. This study provides a new strategy for controllable formulation of multi-compartment vesicles.