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Synthesis, Characterization and Preliminary Biological Evaluation of P(HPMA)‐ b ‐P(LLA) Copolymers: A New Type of Functional Biocompatible Block Copolymer
Author(s) -
Barz Matthias,
Wolf Florian K.,
Canal Fabiana,
Koynov Kaloian,
Vicent Maria J.,
Frey Holger,
Zentel Rudolf
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201000090
Subject(s) - copolymer , raft , polymerization , polymer chemistry , chain transfer , amphiphile , chemistry , polymer , hela , reversible addition−fragmentation chain transfer polymerization , combinatorial chemistry , materials science , radical polymerization , organic chemistry , in vitro , biochemistry
We describe a synthetic pathway to functional P(HPMA)‐ b ‐P(LLA) block copolymers. The synthesis relies on a combination of ring‐opening polymerization of L ‐lactide, conversion into a chain transfer agent (CTA) for the RAFT polymerization of pentafluorophenyl methacrylate. A series of block copolymers was prepared that exhibited molecular weights $\overline M _{\rm n}$ ranging from 7 600 to 34 300 g · mol −1 , with moderate PDI between 1.3 and 1.45. These reactive precursor polymers have been transformed into biocompatible P(HPMA)‐ b ‐P(LLA) copolymers and their fluorescently labeled derivatives by facile replacement of the pentafluorophenyl groups. The fluorescence label attached to this new type of a partially degradable amphiphilic block copolymer was used to study cellular uptake in human cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa) cells as well as aggregation behavior by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS).