A Polymersome Nanoreactor with Controllable Permeability Induced by Stimuli-Responsive Block Copolymers

A method to generate and control the permeability of polymersome membranes using mixtures of amphiphilic and stimuli-responsive boronic acid-containing block copolymers is reported. The latter block copolymers form phase-separated domains in the polymersomes, which can be dissolved by increasing the pH of the medium or by introducing sugar molecules that covalently bind to the boronic acid moieties.