POLYION COMPLEX MICELLES OF CORE/SHELL STRUCTURE

摘要

A method of stabilizing polyion complex micelles of a core/shell structure comprising a polyelectrolyte and a block copolymer comprising a hydrophilic segment and a chargeable segment. The stabilization method is accomplished by fixing at least one thiol residue to the core-forming chargeable segment of each of block copolymer molecules to thereby form, between these chargeable segments, stable disulfide bond crosslinks through the thiol residues fixed thereto. Representative examples of the copolymer capable of being prepared by the stabilization method include ones represented by general formulae (I), (II), and (III). Thus, a method for stabilizing polyion complex micelles utilizable as a carrier for polyelectrolytes can be provided.