Electrochemically Active Block Copolymer Micelles Containing Coumarin Moieties

We report the first study of using CPE to disrupt block copolymer micelles containing an organic chromophore. Micelles formed by an amphiphilic diblock copolymer composed of PEO and PCMA are electrochemically active in aqueous electrolyte solution, displaying an irreversible oxidation process of coumarin at a potential of about 1.75 V. CPE of the micellar solution at the fixed oxidation potential allows a large amount of coumarin moieties inside the hydrophobic micelle core to be electrochemically oxidized, resulting in the transformation of small polymer micelles (ca. 38 nm) onto larger aggregates (ca. 1 µm). This study demonstrates that electrochemical redox reactions can be explored as a means to disrupt block copolymer micelles that contain a light‐sensitive organic chromophore such as coumarin. magnified image