Poly(ethylene glycol) grafted polylactide based copolymers for the preparation of PLA-based nanocarriers and hybrid hydrogels

Issue title: Special issue: Advanced Functional Polymers in Medicine (AFPM): Liège, Belgium, May 2014; Guest-Editors: Christine Jérôme and Andreas Lendlein

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Riva, Raphaël | Schmeits, Stéphanie | Croisier, Florence | Lecomte, Philippe | Jérôme, Christine^*

Affiliations: Centre for Education and Research on Macromolecules (CERM), Chemistry Department, University of Liège, Sart-Tilman, Liège, Belgium

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Christine Jérôme, Center for Education and Research on Macromolecules (CERM), Chemistry Department, University of Liège, Allée de la Chimie 3, B6a 4000 Liège, Belgium; c.jerome@ulg.ac.be

Abstract: In previous works, poly(D,L-lactide-co-ɛCL-poly(ethylene glycol) (poly(D,L-La-co-αPEGɛCL) amphiphilic graft-copolymers were successfully synthesized according to a copper azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) strategy. This paper aims at reporting on the behavior of this amphiphilic copolymer in water, which was not studied in the previous paper. Moreover, the ability of the copolymer to stabilize a PLA nanoparticles aqueous suspension is presented. For this purpose, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are proposed to characterize the nanoparticles in solution. Otherwise, the strategy developed for the synthesis of the amphiphilic copolymers was adapted and extended to the synthesis of PLA-based degradable hydrogel, potentially applicable as drug-loaded degradable polymer implant.

Keywords: Amphiphilic copolymers, aliphatic polyesters, degradable hydrogel, drug delivery

DOI: 10.3233/CH-151932

Journal: Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 65-75, 2015