Gas-shearing synthesis of core–shell multicompartmental microparticles as cell-like system for enzymatic cascade reaction

Core-shell multicompartmental microparticles have gained increasing attention as their architecture resembles the multicompartmental composition of eukaryotic cells. However, challenges remain in the fabrication of biocompatible multicompartmental microparticles at a sufficiently high scale. Herein, all-aqueous ‘mangosteen-like’ core–shell multicompartmental microparticles were created by an oil-free gas-shearing fabrication approach. Both the shell thickness and core size of thus obtained mangosteen-like microparticles can be easily finetuned. Mangosteen-like particles have well segregated (up to eight) compartments which are attractive to precisely control enzymatic cascade reactions. To illustrate the application potential, insulin releasing mangosteen-like microparticles (‘artificial pancreatic beta cells’) were developed.