Binnur Aydogan Temel
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Bezmialem Vakif University, Fatih, 34093 Istanbul, Turkey
Binnur Aydogan Temel is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bezmialem Vakif University. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry in 2004 from Istanbul Technical University. She completed her M.Sc. (2006) and Ph.D. (2010) from Polymer Science and Technology Program under the supervision of Prof Yusuf Yagci. She is (co)author of 23 peer-reviewed articles in international journals and 4 book chapters. Her current research activities are focused on design and sythesis of functional macromolacular architectures, polymer drug delivery systems, light-induced reactions, controlled polymerization techniques and click reactions.
Introduction: In recent years, a number of strategies have been devoted in the use of nanoparticles as drug carriers. Drugs may be encapsulated, adsorbed or dispersed in nanoparticles, which can be colloidal-sized particles, possessing diameters ranging between 1 and 1000 nm.1 A wide variety of nanoparticles composed of a range of materials including lipids, polymers and inorganic materials have been developed, resulting in delivery systems that vary in their physicochemical properties and thus their applications. Among them amphiphilic block copolymers with hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments have attracted a great deal of attention in terms of their ability to form various types of nanoparticles.2-4 The stability of polymeric micellar systems is a crucial condition especially for the encapsulation of active compounds and various approaches have been proposed to stabilize polymeric micelles. Among them, the core-crosslinked micelle and the shell-crosslinked micelle are attractive ways to maintain the structural integrity of micellar object.5
Methods: Herein, we investigated the synthesis and characterization of light-responsive amphiphilic block copolymers via ring opening polymerization and click reaction. The light responsiveness of polymers was tested using UV-Vis spectroscopy. The structures of starting materials and corresponding copolymer were confirmed by 1H NMR and GPC analyses. Micelle formation of amphiphilic copolymers were also investigated and characterized by DLS.
Results and Discussion: We have demonstrated the successful synthesis of light-responsive amphiphilic block copolymers and their self-assembling behaviour fort he formation of small polymeric nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution in an aqueous medium. The simplicity of preparation and stimuli response of polymeric nanoparticles make them attractive for various potential applications as a tailor-made advanced functional drug carrier.
References:
[1] Letchford, K., Burt, H., Eur. J. Pharm. Biopharm., 2007, 65, 259-269.
[2] Adams, M. L., Lavasanifar, A., Kwon, G. S., J. Pharm. Sci., 2003, 92, 1343-1355.
[3] Jin, Q., Maji, S., Agarwal, S., Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 2785-2793.
[4] Robb, M. J., Connal, L. A., Lee, B. F., Lynd, N. A., Hawker, C. J., Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 1618-1628.
[5] Korchia, L., Bouilhac, C., Robin, J-J., Lapinte, V., Eur. Polym. J., 88, 636-644.
