Description:
Reference #: 01535
The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for Persistent Micelle Corona Chemistry
Background:
Polymer micelles have found significant uses in areas such as drug/gene delivery, medical imaging, and as templates for nanomaterials. For many of these applications, the micelle performance depends on its size and chemical functionalization. To date, however, these parameters have often been fundamentally coupled since the equilibrium size of a micelle is a function of the chemical composition in addition to other parameters.
Invention Description:
This processing concept enables one to independently adjust the chemistry and size of micelles. The essence is that if the size can be preserved (i.e. persistent) then the chemistry is a degree of freedom.
Potential Applications:
Drug delivery, polyelectrolyte membranes
Advantages and Benefits:
This approach uniquely enables series of micelles where the size is held constant (important for cell penetration) and all aspects of the corona chemistry are independently adjustable.