Micelle Purification in Continuous Flow via Inline Dialysis

Abstract

Micelle dispersions purification is made available via inline flow dialysis in which micelles are separated from the organic solvent used to dissolve the block copolymers in the micelle formation step. Purification was performed using simple and cost-effective dialysis units employing cellulose membranes. The proposed setup allows us to remove THF from a micelle dispersion within a few hours almost entirely in a looped flow system, without significantly changing the micelle size. Purification is found to be independent of the exact flow rates and only on the circulation time through the dialysis units. The system is not only able to reduce the concentration of the organic solvent, but also water-soluble monomers can be removed. Further, the integration of the method into a full synthesis line to produce encapsulated micelles directly from block copolymer solutions is demonstrated with a throughput of 1.2 g of micelles per hour.