Polydiacetylene Micelles in Nanomedicine and Beyond

In this account article, we give an overview of our contribution to the development of stable micellar carriers obtained by self-assembly and photo-polymerization of diacetylenic amphiphiles. The stabilized micelles can be loaded with active substances and used for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, or loaded with a metal catalyst to promote some synthetic transformations in fully aqueous medium. Table of content 1 Introduction 2 Polydiacetylene Micelles Applied to Nanomedicine 2.1 From Amphiphilic Units to Micelles 2.2 In vivo Behavior of Micelles 2.3 Passive Targeting of Tumors with Micelles 2.4 Drug Delivery with Micelles 2.5 Towards Improved Delivery of Micelles to Tumors Using Sonoporation 2.6 Active Targeting with Micelles 2.7 Behavior of Micelles at the Cellular Level and Potential Cytotoxicity 2.8 Micelles for siRNA Transfection 3 Polydiacetylene Micelles Applied to Catalysis 3.1 Copper Nanoparticles in Micelles 3.2 Copper Salts in Micelles 4 Conclusion