Self-assembled particles from zwitterionic polymers and related methods

A zwitterionic conjugate, comprising a vesicle-forming lipid covalently coupled to a poly(carboxybetaine), a poly(sulfobetaine), or a poly(phosphobetaine),

• wherein the poly(carboxybetaine), poly(sulfobetaine), or poly(phosphobetaine) comprises a plurality of repeating units, each repeating unit having the formula:
• wherein
• R1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, fluorine, trifluoromethyl, C1-C6 alkyl, and C6-C12 aryl groups;
• R2 and R3 are independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl and aryl, or taken together with the nitrogen to which they are attached form a cationic center;
• L1 is a linker that covalently couples the cationic center [N+(R2)(R3)] to the polymer backbone [—(CH2—CR1)n—];
• L2 is a linker that covalently couples the anionic center [A(═O)O−] to the cationic center;
• A is C, S, SO, P, or PO;
• M+ is a counter ion associated with the (A═O)O− anionic center;
• X− is a counter ion associated with the cationic center;
• and n is an integer from 1 to about 10,000.