Title
The Combination Of Rop And Raft Polymerization For The Synthesis Of Polymeric Nanoparticles
Conference Dates
May 20-25, 2018
Abstract
Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) are colloids in the nanometric size that find application in several field, such as optics, coating and medicine. In this latter case, they are used as drug delivery systems for different therapeutics ranging from lipophilic drugs to oligonucleotides. These nano-colloids are generally made up of polyesters as long as they are able to degrade into safe and easy removable compounds, such as lactic acid and hydroxycaproic acid. In this work, starting from a geometrical model developed for the synthesis of NPs with the same NP size and different molecular weight (MW) block copolymers1, a method to independently control the main characteristics of biodegradable NPs stabilized by highly hydrophilic polymers has been developed and here presented. The method consists in the synthesis of block-copolymers with a brush-like structure via the combination of two living polymerizations: the ring opening polymerization (ROP) and the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. A library of block copolymers has been produced and self-assembled into water to generate NPs with different size and block-copolymer MWs. As long as these NPs are intended for biomedical applications, the degradation behavior of these colloids has been studied and correlated with the structure of the lipophilic part of the block copolymer. It has been found that the number of the lactone units and their geometrical disposition in the block copolymers impact the degradation behavior of the NPs they are composed of. Thanks to this novel method, it is possible to synthesize NPs with the same size, but with different degradation time.
References
1. Palmiero, U. C.; Agostini, A.; Gatti, S.; Sponchioni, M.; Valenti, V.; Brunel, L.; Moscatelli, D., Raft macro-surfmers and their use in the ab initio raft emulsion polymerization to decouple nanoparticle size and polymer molecular weight. Macromolecules 2016, 49 (22), 8387-8396.
Recommended Citation
Umberto Capasso Palmiero, Davide Moscatelli, Matteo Maraldi, and Nicolò Manfredini, "The Combination Of Rop And Raft Polymerization For The Synthesis Of Polymeric Nanoparticles" in "Polymer Reaction Engineering X (PRE 10) (2018)", John Tsavalas, University of New Hampshire, USA Fouad Teymour, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA Jeffrey Stubbs, HP Inc., USA Jose R. Leiza, University of the Basque Country, Spain Eds, ECI Symposium Series, (2018). https://dc.engconfintl.org/prex/14