In this work

a UV-Visible light controlled supramolecular system based on ethyl cellulose (EC) was constructed

combining the host-guest interaction of

β

-cyclodextrin (

β

-CD) group and trans-isomer of azobenzene (

t

Azo) group. To link

β

-CD to the hydrophobic section

renewable EC was used as macroinitiator to initiate the polymerization of ε-caprolactone (

ε

-CL) to form biocompatible and biodegradable comb copolymer EC-

g

-PCL

and

β

-CD was attached to the end of PCL side chain

via

click reaction. Meanwhile

hydrophilic PEG-

t

Azo was obtained by

N

N

'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) coupling. Then

the structures of the products were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Subsequently

with the formation of inclusion complexes by

β

-CD and tAzo groups

the obtained EC-

g

-PCL-

β

-CD/PEG-

t

Azo supramolecular system self-assembled in water with hydrophobic EC-

g

-PCL-

β

-CD as core and hydrophilic PEG-

t

Azo as shell. Furthermore

dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to investigate the particle size and size distribution

while NMR and UV-Vis spectra were applied to explore the UV-Visible light stimuli-responsiveness of the micelles.