| Abstract: | Local depletion of intestinal phosphate triggers changes in bacterial phenotypes that adversely affect the health of the host. This article describes a process for encapsulating phosphates in crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) nanoparticles using inverse miniemulsion polymerization as a drug delivery approach for sustained release of phosphates to the intestinal epithelium. The effects of crosslinker, PEGDA co‐monomer, N‐vinyl pyrrolidone, (NVP) and surfactant concentrations on the nanoparticle size distribution, swelling ratio and monomer conversion are investigated. Increased surfactant and PEGDA concentrations result in smaller particle size and swelling ratio. A copolymerization model of crosslinking is used to predict conversion and gelation dynamics as a function of polymerization conditions. The model assumes that bulk polymerization can be used to approximate inverse miniemulsion polymerization with an aqueous‐phase initiator. The initiator efficiency is used as an adjustable parameter to simulate the conversion dynamics, thus accounting for radical confinement effects and interaction with emulsifier molecules. |
