Monodisperse Hyperbranched Polytriazoles as Unimolecular Nanocontainers for Encapsulation of Functional Payloads.

In this work, we developed a series of polytriazole-based unimolecular nanocontainers (UNs) with good water solubility, uniformity, and colloidal stability via a bottom-up chain-growth copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (co)polymerization that featured tunable size, degree of branching (DB), and functionality of the UNs. A broad selection of hydrophobic payload molecules, including Nile red (NR), camptothecin, pyrene, 1-pyrenemethanol, and IR676, were successfully encapsulated to demonstrate the high versatility of these polymers as UNs. Using NR as a probe guest, the relationship between the encapsulation performance and the structural properties of UNs, including size and DB, was investigated. Furthermore, the localization and dispersity of encapsulated NR were explored and the dependence of payload's dispersity on the DB of UNs was revealed. The payload encapsulated in UNs exhibited tunable release kinetics, determined by either adjusting release conditions or including pH-responsive structural units in the UNs. Meanwhile, the dyes encapsulated in UNs exhibited improved photostability and stronger resistance to photobleaching. We expect these explorations addressed the size and stability issues widely encountered in current drug/dye nanocarriers and provided a versatile platform of polytriazole-based UNs for suitable payloads in various applications, including drug delivery and bio-imaging. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.