Noncovalent Encapsulation Stabilities in Supramolecular Nanoassemblies

Exchange dynamics of lipophilic guest molecules, encapsulated in supramolecular nanoassemblies in aqueous solutions, have implications in evaluating the stability of drug delivery vehicles. This is because exchange dynamics is related to the propensity of a nanocarrier to be leaky. We describe a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) based method to evaluate guest exchange dynamics in the aqueous phase. We have utilized this method to analyze the stability of encapsulation in polymeric nanogels and other related amphiphilic nanoassemblies.