ИСТИНА

Amphiphilic homopolymers and polymers in the mixtures with surfactants or chaotropic salts self-assemble into micelles, vesicles, nanoworms that are promising nanoplatforms for usage as nanoreactors, containers for targeted delivery of therapeutic agents and imagining modules in theranostic nanomedecine [1]. Adapting theoretical models of amphiphilic homopolymers [2,3], a theory of dense finite size aggregates in dilute solutions of macromolecules in the presence a solute that can bind to polymer via specific interactions was developed [4]. The possibility of formation of spherical mesoglobules, lamellas, nanoworms and macrophase separation were analyzed. It was assumed that molecules of a solute do not penetrate into the polymer-containing domains and can only bind to the surface of aggregates. We supposed that the main factor for diverse shapes of assemblies is the surface energy. The volume free energy term was assumed to be independent on shape, so the surface free energy was only taken into account. The two cases of polymer-solute binding were studied: molecules of a solute could bind to functional groups separated from main chain (pendant functional groups, (a)) or directly to monomers (b). In the former case we predict formation of lamellas (possibly vesicles), nanoworms, and spherical mesoglobules. In the latter case it was found that solubilization of individual macromolecules occurs and polymer chains form a necklace-like structure. The shape diagrams were constructed. References: [1] Wang F., Xiao J., Chen S., Sun H., Zhou X., Du J. Adv. Mater. 30 (17) 1705674 (2018). [2] Maresov E.A., Semenov A.N. Macromolecules 41 (23) 9439 (2008). [3] Larin D.E., Glagoleva A.A., Govorun E.N., Vasilevskaya V.V. Polymer 146 230 (2018). [4] Ларин Д.Е., Говорун Е.Н. Выскомол. соед. сер. А 61 (5) (2019) (in press). Acknowledgements The research was supported financially by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 18-33-01249).