Synthesis And Characterization Of Poly(L-lactic Acid)/Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Nanogels

In this paper, triblock copolymer poly(lactic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol) -poly(lactic acid) (PLA-PEG-PLA) were synthesized from poly(ethylene glycol) and lactide. Reacted with acryloyl chloride, amphiphilic bi-acrylated poly(lactic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol) -poly(lactic acid) (AC-PLA-PEG-PLA-AC) were gain. Techniques like IR, 1H-NMR were utilized for characterization and measurement.Amphiphilic triblock copolymer AC-PLA-PEG-PLA-AC formed micelles in aqueous solution by self-assembly with a crosslinkable hydrophobic biodegradable PLA core and a hydrophilic PEG shell. The vinyl groups of the acrylated group in the micelles core were crosslinked by UV light with the photoinitiator 2, 2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (DMPA) and crosslinker poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. The final crosslinked nanogels were characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). A hydrophobic drug, Tetrandrine (TED), was encapsulated in the nanogels. This paper also investigated the effects of polymer concentration, crosslinking density, LA/EO and drug concentration on drug release.