Recent Progress in Polymer Cubosomes and Hexosomes

Abstract

Polymer cubosomes and hexosomes are polymer colloids with inverted lyotropic liquid crystal phases as internal structures. They are composed of regular networks of water‐filled channels surrounded by a bilayer membrane made from amphiphilic block copolymers. Due to the uniform, tunable, and highly ordered porous structure, polymer cubosomes and hexosomes present numerous advantages over polymer micelles and vesicles, such as the high loading volumes for both hydrophilic and hydrophobic substances, large specific surface areas, and good mechanical and chemical stabilities. The polymer chemistry also enables unlimited molecular design to endow these polymer colloids with a lot of adjustable physical and chemical properties. Therefore, polymer cubosomes and hexosomes have attracted increasing attention for their potential applications in materials science and nanotechnology. This review outlines the recent progress in this field with an emphasis on the polymer architectures, the self‐assembly conditions and mechanisms, and some application examples which are special for these inverted polymer colloids. It is hoped to provide some practical guidance for researchers interested in polymer cubosomes and hexosomes.

Development, Therapeutic Evaluation and Theranostic Applications of Cubosomes on Cancers: An Updated Review

“…Apart from SAXS, additional new techniques for cubosome characterization include cryo transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). This is a powerful tool for characterizing the morphology of soft matter dispersions, polymeric nanoparticles, and biological materials [ 76 ]. This approach is based on the ultra-rapid conversion of a thin fluid suspension film to a vitrified low–vapor–pressure specimen suitable for electron microscopy.…”

Porous Polymer Cubosomes with Ordered Single Primitive Bicontinuous Architecture and Their Sodium–Iodine Batteries

“…Artificial construction is difficult for both top-down (such as lithography or etching) , and bottom-up methods ( e.g. , self-assembly). , The self-assembly of block polymers (BCPs) represents one of the few effective strategies. − Compared to their small molecule counterparts, ,− BCP assemblies are structurally more robust, and their periodicity and pore sizes are typically one order of magnitude higher. − Therefore, stable BCP assemblies of bicontinuous structures afford desirable soft templates for developing porous materials, − particularly meso- or macroporous materials providing that the dimensions of synthetic polymer chains are more easily controlled in the range. − However, due to the narrow phase area of bicontinuous structures in the morphological phase diagram of BCP self-assembly and the difficulties in finding the appropriate packing parameters, only limited studies report the BCP self-assembly guided fabrication of bicontinuous porous materials. , Among these, the materials of double networks are dominant, as bicontinuous phases of BCPs typically internalize two identical networks due to the thermodynamic preference. , In contrast, the few successful cases of single networks are mainly limited to inorganic materials, including SiO 2 , metals (Au, Pt, and Ni), − metal oxides (TiO 2 , Nb 2 O 5 , and CsTaWO 6 ), ,, carbon, and metal–phenolic networks (MPNs) . The synthesis, consisting of the replication of the BCP templates prepared by the evaporation-induced solvent (EISA) method or self-assembly in bulk, mainly led to SG topology. − For example, Ho and coworkers reported the preparation of a DG-structured BCP template through the self-assembly of linear triblock terpolymer polyisoprene- b -polystyrene- b -poly­( d -lactide) (PI- b -PS- b -PDLA), or PI- b -PS- b -poly­( l -lactide) (PI- b -PS- b -PLLA) in bulk followed by the selective removal of th...…”

Photoluminescent polymer cubosomes prepared by RAFT-mediated polymerization-induced self-assembly

“…4 In the last few years, cubosomes and hexosomes prepared from amphiphilic block copolymers with larger lattice parameters (30-60 nm) have emerged as new alternatives to conventional lipid particles and have found new applications in templating, separation, catalysis and photonics. [10][11][12][13][14][15] Typically, polymer cubosomes and hexosomes are prepared via the solution self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers with a high degree of asymmetry between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks and possessing a molecular geometry with a packing parameter (P) higher than 1. 14,16 The self-assembled structures contain negative surface-average Gaussian curvatures, leading to inverse phases.…”