Capsulution Pharma AG

This review addresses the fabrication and properties of novel polyelectrolyte microcapsules, with an emphasis on their mechanical and permeability properties. Ease of preparation through layer‐by‐layer self assembly, accurate control over wall thickness as well as flexibility in the choice of constituents make these capsules very promising for numerous applications in materials and life science. Moreover, by engineering the inner and outer interfaces, these capsules can be used as microreactors for precipitation, crystallization, and polymerization reactions, as well as enzymatic, and heterogeneous catalysis.

A review.A discussion on nanoparticle technol. which is being used to facilitate the delivery of biopharmaceutical compounds across the blood brain barrier, opening up new possibilities for the treatment of brain disorders that would previously have been inconceivable is presented.

Recently a new type of hollow capsules consisting of ordered polyelectrolyte layers were developed(1).They are prepared by alternating deposition of neg. and pos. charged polyelectrolytes onto spherical templates.The use of such capsules for a controlled release of drugs or herbicides from the interior or as nanoreactors requires a tailored and selective permeability of the capsule wall for different materials as well as the incorporation of specific catalyzing functions in the capsule interior.This can be achieved by synthesizing polymers in the capsule wall or the interior.The capsules are permeable for monomers but not for polymers.If polymers are synthesized from monomers inside the capsules or inside the wall, they are captured (2).This "ship in bottle" synthesis is applied for capsules in order to modify their physicochem. properties.The copolymerization with different functionalized monomers yielded capsules with specific properties, such as absorption, fluorescence, charge recognition, pH and ion strength.Especially the introduction of photoinitiators enables photo-polymerization after irradiation in presence of monomers.The polymerization can be started selectively in a defined layer in the capsule wall, on the surface or in the interior.The monomers are delivered from the surrounding bulk phase in a practical infinite amountWe will report about the preparation of photoactive capsules and selective photo-polymerizationThe new properties of the modified capsules, such as different adsorption and permeability behavior for cationic and anionic compounds, high acidity in the interior, osmotic driven swelling and shrinking (pump), or nucleation on predefined sites will be presented and discussed in respect to the manifold application aspects.