Synthesis and characterization of thermoresponsive polymers containing reduction‐sensitive disulfide linkage |
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| Authors: | Lihua Li Xulin Jiang Renxi Zhuo |
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| Affiliation: | Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China |
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| Abstract: | A novel class of thermoresponsive and reduction‐sensitive polymer, p(PEG‐MEMA‐co‐Boc‐Cyst‐MMAm), containing disulfide linkages and removable hydrophobic tert‐butyloxycarbonyl side chains was synthesized. The cloud points (CP) of p(PEG‐MEMA‐co‐Boc‐Cyst‐MMAm) in water determined by UV/VIS spectrometer were between 20 °C and 57 °C, which shows that the CP can be tuned by adjusting the copolymer composition. Moreover, the thermosensitive polymers p(PEG‐MEMA‐co‐Boc‐Cyst‐MMAm) formed stable nanoparticles in neutral aqueous medium, but rapidly destabilized in an reductive environment mimicking the intracellular space making them suitable for cytoplasmic drug delivery. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 5989–5997, 2009 |
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| Keywords: | biodegradable cytoplasmic drug delivery nanoparticles radical polymerization stimuli‐sensitive polymers |
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