Temperature-Triggered Self-Assembly of Elastin-Like Block Co-Recombinamers:The Controlled Formation of Micelles and Vesicles in an Aqueous Medium

Abstract

The possibility of obtaining different self-assembled nanostructures in reversible systems based on elastin-like block corecombinamers is explored in this work. The results obtained show how an evolution from a more common micellar structure to a hollow vesicle can be attained simply by changing the block arrangements and lengths, even when other molecular properties, such as molecular weight or mean polarity, remain essentially unchanged. This work sheds light on the possibility of obtaining hollow nano-objects, based on elastin-like recombinamers, which can assemble and disassemble in response to a change in their surroundings. This kind of system can be an example of how high precision in the genetic production of synthetic macro-molecules can be used, on an exclusive basis, to control the shape and size of their derived nano-objects.