RAFT made methacrylate copolymers for reversible pH-responsive nanoparticles

Yildirim, Turgay; Rinkenauer, Alexandra; Weber, Christine; Träger, Anja; Schubert, Stephanie; Schubert, Ulrich S.

Abstract:

In this study, we designed and investigated pH-responsive nanoparticles based on different ratios of monomers with primary, secondary or tertiary amino groups. For this purpose, copolymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with different compositions of amino methacrylates (2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), 2-(tert-butylamino)ethyl methacrylate (tBAEMA) and 2-aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride (AEMA·HCI)) were synthesized using the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization process. The controlled nature of the radical polymerization was demonstrated by kinetic studies. All copolymers show low dispersities (ĐM lution at acidic pH values. The ability of the nanoparticles to encapsulate guest molecules was confirmed by pyrene fluorescence studies. The cytotoxicity assay results showed that the nanoparticles did not have any significant cytotoxic effect.

Year:

2015

Type of Publication:

Article

Journal:

Journal of Polymer Science: Part A: Polymer Chemistry

Volume:

53

Pages:

2711 - 2721