Block copolymers of the type poly(caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) for the preparation and stabilization of nanoemulsions

Block copolymers poly(caprolactone)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) are promising non-ionic macromolecular surfactants for the stabilization of emulsions because they display a stronger adsorption and provide an increased long-term stability. But such amphiphilic copolymers should also allow the fabrication of the suspensions according to the emulsification process used. An evaluation of such block copolymers was done regarding the nanoprecipitation and the miniemulsion polymerization processes that both afford aqueous suspensions of nanoparticles. Both the fabrication and the long-term stability were investigated. It was found that the emulsification by means of the nanoprecipitation process was successful when the amphiphilic block copolymer was added into the organic phase. The studies on the structure–activity relationships have shown that a minimum length of the poly(ethylene oxide) block was necessary in order to ensure both the long-term colloidal stability of the suspensions and the instantaneous stability during the preparation process. The length of the hydrophobic block was a parameter of less relevance, but a minimum length was required for the copolymers to be soluble in the organic phase. The miniemulsion polymerization process using block copolymer emulsifiers could be adapted to the incorporation of large loads of vitamin E acetate used as a hydrophobe stabilizer.