Polymer coated nanoparticles have emerged as promising platforms for biomedical imaging and cellular delivery. Coating of nanoparticles with polymers augments the intrinsic properties of nanoparticles by imparting additional attributes from the polymers. Over the past decade, it is well established that polymeric coatings on nanoparticles does a lot more than just impart colloidal stability. Advances in contemporary polymer synthesis allows facile attachment of polymers onto the nanoparticle surface using either ‘grafting-from’ or ‘grafting-to’ strategies. Incorporation of reactive/clickable functional groups onto these polymers allows efficient functionalization of these soft interfaces with functional molecules using diverse chemistry. In recent years, we have focused on modification of magnetic nanoparticles with thiol-reactive polymers containing alkenes and disulfides, which enable facile conjugation of thiol-containing molecules under mild conditions. Important considerations for successful grafting of the thiol-reactive groups lies in judicious selection of reactive monomers, as well as compatible polymerization techniques. Due to the metal-free nature of reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization, polymers for ‘grafting-to’ and ‘grafting-from’ onto magnetic nanoparticle surfaces were fabricated using this technique. Catechol-based attachment onto nanoparticle surfaces was used for robust attachment. Conjugation of fluorescent dyes and peptides using thiol-based chemistries rendered these constructs suitable for dual imaging of cancer cells. The presentation will highlight our recent contributions in the area through various examples of synthesis of thiol-reactive polymeric brushes on nanoparticles and their utilization toward cellular imaging and delivery (Figure).

Fabrication of polymer-coated thiol-reactive magnetic nanoparticles for cellular targeting

2019 Fall National Meeting

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