Investigation of a dual set of driving forces (hydrophobic + electrostatic) for the two-step fabrication of defined block copolymer micelles.

The aqueous complexation of an amphiphilic block copolymer AB containing a hydrophobic segment A and a polyanionic segment B, with a double hydrophilic block copolymer CD containing a polycationic block C and a non-ionic block D was studied. Defined A(BC)D aggregates ( spherical micelles and vesicles) were obtained by this novel sequential pathway superposing both hydrophobic and electrostatic forces. This proof of concept indicates that this straightforward strategy could be further applied for preparing compartmented polymer-based nanostructures.