COMB POLYMER AND BLOCK COPOLYMER STABILIZED NANOPARTICLES ENCAPSULATING NUCLEIC ACIDS AND OTHER SOLUBLE HYDROPHILIC COMPOUNDS

摘要

A precipitation route to form nanoparticles with a hydrophilic core containing water soluble materials and a hydrophobic shell is described. The process requires a stabilizing polymer composed of more polar and more non-polar regions. These regions can be arranged as a linear block copolymer, or as a comb polymer with a linear or branched polar backbone and non-polar side chains or substituents. Nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA, as well as proteins, peptides, and polysaccharides or combinations can be encapsulated in the nanoparticle core. The encapsulation of nucleic acids can require partially or fully neutralizing the acid with a base to enhance the solubility of the nucleic acid in the process solvent stream. The core or the shell of the resulting nanoparticles can be crosslinked. The nanoparticles may be coated with additional polymer to bring them into water, or processed into microparticles or larger monoliths.