Effects of copolymer component on the properties of phosphorylcholine micelles

Zwitterionic polymers have unique features, such as good compatibility, and show promise in the application of drug delivery. In this study, the zwitterionic copolymers, poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) with disulfide (PCL-ss-PMPC) or poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) or without disulfide (PCL-PMPC) and with different block lengths in PCL-ss-PMPC, were designed. The designed copolymers were obtained by a combination of ring-opening polymerization and atom transferring radical polymerization. The crystallization properties of these polymers were investigated. The micelles were prepared based on the obtained copolymers with zwitterionic phosphorylcholine as the hydrophilic shell and PCL as the hydrophobic core. The size distributions of the blank micelles and the doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded micelles were uniform, and the micelle diameters were