Antibacterial vesicles by direct dissolution of a block copolymer in water

A novel thermo- and pH-responsive antimicrobial diblock copolymer has been synthesized and directly dissolved in water to form polymer vesicles upon simply raising the temperature. Compared to individual polymer chains, polymer vesicles exhibit much better antimicrobial efficacy against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria under physiological conditions with neither quaternary ammonium moieties nor the loading of any external antibiotics as a result of their increased local concentration of cationic charge.