Formation and degradation of poly(D,L-lactide) nanoparticles and their potential application as controllable releasing devices

In the presence of surfactant, water-insoluble poly(D,L-lactide) (PLA) was dispersed into narrowly distributed nanoparticles stable in water via microphase inversion. The structure and degradation of such formed nanoparticles were investigated by a combination of static and dynamic laser light scattering. Our results revealed that the degradation rate increased with the temperature and pH so that the degradation could be regulated from minutes to days. Using anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as stabilizer resulted in a slower degradation than using cationic hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB). The phthalocyanine chromophores (PC) could be encapsulated inside these PLA nanoparticles. The degradation of individual PLA nanoparticles led to a controllable releasing of PC. The absorption and fluorescence studies revealed a correlation between the degradation and the releasing of PC. Our results showed that a higher PC/PLA ratio could lead to a faster degradation.