Water-Soluble, pH Responsive Polymeric Nanoparticles: A Modular Approach

Herein, we describe the development of a modular approach to create pH responsive polymeric nanoparticles. We combined monomers containing guadiniocarbonyl pyrrole carboxylate zwitterion (GCP)-zwitter-ion with different simple monomers by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). The dimerization of the GCP-zwitterion allows formation of polymer nanoparticles in neutral and acidic aqueous solution, which can reversibly be rearranged by changing the pH. The modularity of our approach allowed us to tune the solubility of the polymeric nanoparticles and preserve the pH switchability of the systems. We were able to use the pH switchability for reversible uptake and partial release of Nile red.