Decoding the conformation of polylactic acid in block copolymer micelles

In short

Amphiphilic block copolymers self-assemble into micelles, but their size and shape depend on many interlinked parameters at once. That makes general design rules hard to come by.

This paper sets out a scaling framework for PEG-b-PLA micelles at a fixed hydrophilic–hydrophobic ratio. Varying the molecular weights systematically gives precise control over micelle size and aggregation number, measured by DLS, cryo-TEM and MALS. From there it works out how the polylactic acid chains are arranged in the micelle core.

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© The authors, 2026. Open access under CC BY 4.0; shared here unchanged.