Direct optical observations of vesicular self-assembly in large-scale polymeric structures during photocontrolled biphasic polymerization†
Abstract
In this report, we employ a photo-controlled polymerization protocol featuring a fluorescent initiator to follow the evolution of the generated self-assembled microscopic structures in a phase-separating dispersion polymerization medium. We observe the growth of polymer vesicles with final diameters of tens of microns. The formed structures respond to illumination with visible light at the absorbance maximum of the photoinitiator, demonstrating that the reaction mixture remains active even after transferring to an optical microscope slide and that the “blebbing” of vesicles and their growth continue until a mature size is reached.