Diselenide-Containing Polymeric Vesicles with Osmotic Pressure Response

Abstract

Mechanophore is a kind of functional group that can undergo chemical reactions when given mechanical force stimuli. In this paper, osmotic pressure was used as an external force to trigger a diselenide exchange reaction. A diselenide bond containing block polymer capable of self-assembling to a vesicle structure and an ester bond containing a counterpart were synthesized in this study. When NaCl was added into the solution to generate the osmotic pressure difference inside and outside vesicles, diselenide containing vesicles were ruptured, while the ester bond counterpart stayed still. Further investigation into the chemical composition of both vesicles indicated the occurrence of the diselenide exchange reaction. The osmotic pressure response of the diselenide bond enriched the diselenide dynamic covalent chemistry and offers a potential application in a controlled release system.