We demonstrate a strategy for using an optical stimulus to trigger the dissociation of block copolymer (BCP) vesicles in aqueous solution. The BCP, comprising hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and a block of poly(methacrylic acid) bearing a number of spiropyran methacrylate comonomer units (P(MAA-co-SPMA)), was allowed to firstly self-assemble into large vesicles in aqueous solution at pH=3 with protonated carboxylic acid groups, and then become kinetically stable at pH=8 due to the glassy vesicle membrane of P(MAA-co-SPMA). Fast dissociation of the vesicles was achieved through a cascade of events triggered by UV-induced isomerization from neutral spiropyran to charged merocyanine in the membrane.
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