We investigate the formation of hybrid polyelectrolyte/protein nanoparticles by associations between aggregates of partially hydrolyzed poly(2-phenyl-2-oxazoline) (HPPhOx) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) in aqueous solutions. Light scattering experiments show that at conditions of low salt, BSA creates interaggregate bridges and increases the size of the HPPhOx nanoparticles. At high salt contents, breaking of aggregates leads to well-defined nanoparticles. The interior of the formed nanoparticles is probed by small-angle neutron scattering. At low salt, diffuse arrangements are observed, whereas at high salt concentration, scattering is dominated by well-defined hydrophobic domains enhanced by the incorporation of BSA. This system shows that the combination of hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions in random-amphiphilic-polyelectrolyte/protein complexes can be used to determine the properties of self-assembled hybrid multifunctional nanoparticles.

中文翻译：

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自组装HPPhOx / BSA杂化纳米粒子在水溶液中的缔合和内部形态

我们通过水溶液中部分水解的聚（2-苯基-2-恶唑啉）（HPPhOx）和牛血清白蛋白（BSA）的聚集体之间的关联，研究了杂化聚电解质/蛋白质纳米颗粒的形成。光散射实验表明，在低盐条件下，BSA会形成相互聚集的桥并增加HPPhOx纳米粒子的尺寸。在高盐含量下，聚集体的破裂会导致形成明确的纳米颗粒。通过小角度中子散射探测形成的纳米颗粒的内部。在低盐浓度下，观察到扩散排列，而在高盐浓度下，散射由掺入BSA增强的定义明确的疏水域占主导。