Self-assembly of Retinoic Acid-conjugated Poly(Amino Acid)'s Derivative

In this study, a poly (amino acid)s derivative grafted with retinoic acids, which could form self-assemblies in an aqueous solution, was successfully synthesized. The synthesized amphiphilic poly (amino acid)s were controlled with 5, 10, 30 mol% substitution of retinoic acid. Then, the amphiphilic poly (amino acid)s were self-assembled by inter/intra molecular stacking of retinoic acids in an aqueous solution. Also, the increasing the degree of substitution (DS) of retinoic acids decreased the size of self-assembled nanoparticles and induced structural transition to bilayer structure from spherical structure. The retinol was stably encapsulated into a core of self-assembled nanoparticle with 10 mol% of DS. This strategy to prepare the self-assemblies of amphiphilic polyaspartamide will serve to improve the efficiency of targeted delivery for a functional cosmetic with various biological modalities.