Redox tunable delivery systems: sweet block copolymer micelles thiol-(bromo)maleimide conjugation

Oligosaccharide-based block copolymers (OBCPs) are synthesized by thiol click conjugation using reducing-end thiol-containing xyloglucooligosaccharides and maleimide- or bromomaleimide-terminated polycaprolactone. The self-assembled OBCPs in aqueous solution lead to redox-sensitive micelles with different responsiveness. This distinguishing feature allows us to control the release of entrapped hydrophobic Nile red by mixing both OBCPs. A tunable release of encapsulated Nile Red from xyloglucan-oligosaccharides- block -polycaprolactone obtained by thiol-(bromo)maleimide click reaction was successfully achieved by mixing their Gluathione-responsiveness.