Introduction of structural perturbations into drug polymers: Effect on enzyme hydrolysis

Antimicrobial agents have been incorporated into devices in an attempt to address bacterial infection. This thesis furthers the work done on the development of biodegradable polyurethanes with reduced hard segment packing and potential antimicrobial properties.; Drug polymers having norfloxacin were synthesized with diisocyanates having pendant methyl (2,2,4-trimethyl-1-6-diisocyanatohexane) and ester (lysine diisocyanate) groups on their backbone and a polycarbonate/polyester soft segment. The surface and bulk properties of the polymers were characterized. Degradation studies, performed in the presence of the enzyme cholesterol esterase, were assessed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS). One of the polymers degraded to release drug without any other drug derived products in the presence of enzyme. The results indicate that the presence of diisocyanates with pendant groups alter the degradation profile of the drug polymer, suggesting that an ideal drug release profile can be achieved by modification of the polymer chemistry.