Dye Encapsulation in Polynorbornene Micelles

The encapsulation efficiency of high-Tg polynorbornene micelles was probed with a hydrophobic dye 2,6-diiodoboron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY). Changes in the visible absorption spectra of aggregated versus monomeric dye molecules provided a probe for assessing encapsulation. Polynorbornene micelles are found to be capable of loading up to one BODIPY dye per ten polymers. As the hydrophilic block size increased in the polymeric amphiphiles, more of the dye was incorporated within the micelles. This result is consistent with the dye associating with the polymer backbone in the shell of the micelles. The encapsulation rate varied significantly with temperature, and a slight dependence on micellar morphology was also noted. Additionally, we report a 740 μs triplet lifetime for the encapsulated BODIPY dye. The lifetime is the longest ever recorded for a BODIPY triplet excited state at room temperature and is attributed to hindered triplet–triplet annihilation in the high-viscosity micellar shell.