Polylactic acid (PLA) has attracted significant interest as a biodegradable and biocompatible material for use in medical applications. However, incorporating functionalities into PLA polymers is a synthetic challenge due to the amount of post polymerization modifications able to be made and the percent of functionalized lactide able to be incorporated in ring opening polymerization (ROP). Herein we describe novel polymeric materials which combine the biodegradability and biocompatibility of PLA polymers with the high functional group diversity of ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) polymers. A lactide-norbornene bifunctional monomer was synthesized and subjected to ROP to generate PLA polymers incorporating norbornene molecular handles. Graft-from brush polymers were generated via ROMP incorporating stimuli responsive functionalities as pendent groups. Nanoparticles were formulated from the graft polymers and were shown to respond to both light and pH.

Stimuli responsive nanoparticles synthesized from norbornene functionalized polylactic acid via graft-from ring opening metathesis polymerization

248th National Meeting (2014)

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