Research

Polymer micelles as drug carriers

Block copolymer micelles are composed of polymer chains with sequences of hydrophilic and hydrophobic blocks. In a dilute aqueous solution, they form spherical or cylindrical nano-objects comprised of several chains with a hydrophobic core and extended hydrophilic corona. Lipophilic drugs can be dissolved in the core of these micelles, while the corona will assure solubility […]

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Self-assembly of spherical interpolyelectrolyte complexes from oppositely charged polymers

V. A. Baulin and E. Trizac
Soft Matter, 8 (25), 6755 – 6766 (2012)
The formation of inter-polyelectrolyte complexes from the association of oppositely charged polymers in an electrolyte is studied. The charged polymers are linear oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, with possibly a neutral block. This leads to complexes with a charged core, and a more dilute corona […]

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Accurate critical micelle concentrations from a single chain mean field theory

A. Gezae Daful, V.A. Baulin, J. Bonet i Avalos and A.D. Mackie
J. Phys. Chem. B, 115, 3434–3443 (2011)
A single chain mean field theory is used to quantitatively describe the micellization process of the nonionic polyethylene oxide alkyl ether, CnEm class of surfactants at 25 °C. An explicit but simple microscopic model with only three […]

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