pubs.acs.org/Langmuir © 2009 American Chemical Society
Polymerization of Hydrogels inside Self-Assembled Block Copolymer Vesicles Jeffery Gaspard, Mariah S. Hahn,* and James A. Silas Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843 Received April 21, 2009. Revised Manuscript Received September 10, 2009 Block copolymer vesicles are powerful tools for investigating cell adhesion since they display the fluid, deformable, semipermeable membrane properties of lipid vesicles while having greater chemical and mechanical stability. The aim of the present study was to fabricate block copolymer vesicles containing hydrogel interiors in order to extend achievable vesicle properties and, thereby, their range of cell-like behaviors. Block copolymer vesicles based on poly(butadiene-bethylene oxide) were demonstrated to compartmentalize and retain acrylamide solutions through particle dialysis and to allow for subsequent in situ hydrogel polymerization. Small molecule leakage studies of the resulting particles indicated that the cross-link density of the hydrogel interiors had minimal impact on vesicle permeability to small molecules (
