Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol.27, No.19, 1654-1659, 2006
Self-assembly of two agents in a core-shell-corona multicompartment micelle studied by dissipative particle dynamics simulations
Dissipative particle dynamics simulations are performed on the distributions of two agents in a core-shell-corona multicompartment micelle. The simulated results show that when the agents are weakly hydrophobic, their distributions in the multicompartment micelle are largely affected by the interactions between the agents and the blocks; while for strongly hydrophobic agents, the self-assembly of solubilized species in the micelle is also affected largely by the interactions between the species. This work confirms that a multicompartment micelle can store two agents within separate nanoscopic compartments simultaneously, and shows that the distributions of the agents can be tailored easily by changing the interactions presented. This provides molecular-level information that is useful for the future rational design of new micellar systems with tailored properties.
Keywords:block copolymers;computer modeling;density distribution;dissipative particle dynamics;multicompartment micelle