Nanoparticles have emerged as a promising new tool to effectively treat cancer. With the limiting factor of most chemotherapeutics being their adverse side effects, nanoparticles have the ability to encapsulate drugs and deliver them to cancerous tissue with minimal effect to normal cells. These particles can be designed to take advantage of cancer cell physiology to preferentially target cancerous tissue over normal tissue. We use RAFT polymerization to explore the versatility of poly[(N,N-diethylaminoethyl) acrylamide] (pDEEN) as a component of micellar delivery vehicles. Diblock polymers are composed of pDEEN, which is cationic at neutral pH, with poly(n-butyl acrylate) (pnBuA) or monomethoxypolyethylene glycol (mPEG) to yield p(DEEN)-co-p(nBuA) and p(DEEN)-co-mPEG. In aqueous solutions both polymers form aggregates 100-200 nm in diameter above their critical aggregate concentrations. The p(DEEN)-co-p(nBuA) amphiphilic diblock copolymer demonstrates resistance to pH change and the p(DEEN)-co-mPEG doubly hydrophilic diblock copolymer results in a change in aggregate size, a decrease in stability, and a change in morphology over the pH range of 5.8 to 8.0. These copolymers effectively bind Cu(II) and encapsulate plasmid DNA through ionic interactions, demonstrating a potential use as a non-viral DNA vector. The versatility of p(DEEN) in these diblock copolymers shows a promising start to the design of oncological treatments.

Self-assembly of pH-responsive amine-based diblock copolymers

256th National Meeting (2018)

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