| Fine control of the physical and chemical properties of customized materials is a field that is rapidly advancing. This is especially critical in pursuits to develop and optimize novel nanoparticle drug delivery. Specifically, I aim to apply chemistry concepts to test the hypothesis "Silicate ester prodrugs of paclitaxel, customized to have the proper hydrophobicity and hydrolytic lability, can be formulated with well-defined, biocompatible, amphiphilic block copolymers into nanoparticles that are effective drugs." Chapter 1 briefly describes the context and motivation of the scientific pursuits described in this thesis. In Chapter 2, a family of model silicate esters is synthesized, the hydrolysis rate of each compound is benchmarked, and trends are established based upon the steric bulk and leaving group ability of the silicate substituents. These trends are then applied to the synthesis of labile silicate ester prodrugs in Chapter 3. The bulk of this chapter focuses on the synthesis, hydrolysis, and cytotoxicity of prodrugs based on paclitaxel, a widely used chemotherapeutic agent. In Chapter 4, a new methodology for the synthesis of narrowly dispersed, "random" poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) polymers by a constant infusion of the glycolide monomer is detailed. Using poly(ethylene glycol) as a macroinitiator, amphiphilic block copolymers were synthesized. Co-formulating a paclitaxel silicate and an amphiphilic block copolymer via flash nanoprecipitation led to highly prodrug-loaded, kinetically trapped nanoparticles. Studies to determine the structure, morphology, behavior, and efficacy of these nanoparticles are described in Chapter 5. Efforts to develop a general strategy for the selective end-functionalization of the polyether block of these amphiphilic block copolymers are discussed in Chapter 6. Examples of this strategy include functionalization of the polyether with an azide or a maleimide. Finally, Chapter 7 provides an outlook for future development of the strategies described in this thesis and summarizes the results and conclusions of the experimental results that led to the development of the therapeutic, paclitaxel silicate-loaded, polymeric nanoparticles. |
