Pau Rocas, Yolanda Fernandez, Schwartz S Jr, Ibane Abasolo, Josep Rocas and Fernando Albericio .
Journal of Materials Chemistry B. 2015,3, 7604-7613
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/tb/2015/c5tb01345c#!divAbstract
Abstract
Polyurethane–polyurea (PUUa) reactive prepolymers with adjusted hydrophobic and hydrophilic dangling chains to achieve multiwalled sub-30 nm nanoparticles are presented. The combination of an amphiphilic and a hydrophobic prepolymer at the oil–water interface creates a stratified shell by hydrophobic interactions. These novel nanostructures enhance the encapsulation stability of lipophilic compounds compared to monowalled nanostructures and facilitate the selective and ordered functionalization along the multiwalled shell with bioactive motifs. As proof of concept, PUUa nanoparticles have been engineered with disulfide bonds and an αvβ3 integrin-selective cyclic RGD peptide (cRGDfK) providing our system with glutathione (GSH) triggered controlled release and cell targeting specificity to U87 tumor cells.
