Fabrication of Polymer Nanocapsules with Controllable Oligo(Ethylene Glycol) Densities, Permeation Properties and Robustly Crosslinked Walls

P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA) nanocapsules with controllable oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) densities and robustly cross-linked structures were successfully fabricated from the cross-linkable copolymer, poly[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate-co-oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate] (P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA)). The densities of OEG segments of the resultant P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA) nanocapsules could be easily controlled by tuning the OEGMA contents of copolymer P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA). The microenvironments of the P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA) nanocapsules were determined to be hydrophobic. It was demonstrated that hydrophobic pyrene could be in situ loaded into the P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA) nanocapsules during the fabrication procedure. The release rates of pyrene from the P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA) nanocapsules were dependent on the contents of OEGMA, indicating that the permeation properties of P(TMSPMA-co-OEGMA) nanocapsules could be tuned by varying the cross-linked densities of the nanocapsule walls. It was further demonstrated that other functional g...