Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
12-31-2022
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry - (Ph.D.)
Department
Chemistry and Environmental Science
First Advisor
Yuanwei Zhang
Second Advisor
Kevin D. Belfield
Third Advisor
Hao Chen
Fourth Advisor
Yong Ick Kim
Fifth Advisor
Xianqin Wang
Abstract
Well-defined thermo-responsive triblock copolymers containing polyethylene oxide (PEO) and poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) PNIPAM are synthesized by a type of living controlled polymerization, named iniferter polymerization. The polymers are amphiphilic in nature and are self-assembled into a micelle. Their properties and application are characterized and investigated in this work.
Foremost, the initiator of the polymerization (iniferter) is designed and synthesized by condensation polymerization, where PEO is incorporated into the structure to improve biocompatibility, which has great potential for biological application. Moreover, this iniferter reagent could be applied to more than 70 percent of vinyl monomers.
NIPAM, a commercial vinyl monomer, is chosen to conduct the following radical polymerizations and the reaction kinetics and structures are characterized.
Polymers' properties and characteristics including sizes and size distributions, lower critical solution temperatures (LCST), and critical micelle concentrations (CMC) are investigated systematically, and their structure-properties correlation is concluded.
Moreover, doxorubicin (DOX), a model anti-cancer drug, is encapsulated into the polymeric micelle core, and the encapsulation efficiency, drug loading content, and drug release profile are conducted. Similarly, the corresponding properties are summarized and concluded.
Poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA), a well-studied cationic polymer for gene delivery application, has also been investigated in this dissertation. PEO-PDMAMEMA-PEO has been synthesized by the same methodology, and further prepare into nanoparticles and bind with gfp plasmid by electrostatic interaction. Fluorescence images show that PEO-PDMAEMA-PEO has great potential for intracellular gene delivery.
Recommended Citation
Dou, Jie, "Amphiphilic block copolymers and the applications in therapeutics delivery" (2022). Dissertations. 1848.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/dissertations/1848
