Browsing by Author "Ibadov, Rustam"

Poly(2-oxazoline)/poly(2-oxazine)-based block copolymers have gained significant attention in recent years for their potential use in drug delivery systems. The architecture of amphiphilic poly(2-oxazoline)/poly(2-oxazine) based block copolymers, consisting of hydrophilic outer blocks and a hydrophobic inner block, allows the formation of micelles. The hydrophobic drug is encapsulated within the core, and the hydrophilic shell provides the stability and solubility in aqueous solution. The size and properties of the micelles can be tuned by adjusting the composition of the copolymer, making them a versatile platform for drug delivery. In this work, three different poly(2-oxazoline)/poly(2-oxazine)-based triblock, diblock and gradient copolymers were synthesized via cationic ring-opening polymerization and compared in terms of their drug formulation capability. Triblock copolymers consisting of three polymer blocks, can be tailored to have different hydrophobic and hydrophilic block ratios, allowing for tunable drug release profiles. However, triblock copolymers are more difficult to synthesize, especially if one aims to produce symmetrical ratio of hydrophilic blocks. Diblock copolymers, consisting of two polymer blocks, can also self-assemble into micelles in aqueous solutions and can encapsulate hydrophobic drugs, however, the lower stability of their formulations compared to that of triblock copolymers can limit their drug loading capacity and drug release profiles. In theory, entropy wise, when forming a micelle, the diblock copolymer should be favorable as it doesn’t need to fold, unlike the triblock copolymers, however, the drug formulations by triblock copolymers has shown to be more stable than that of diblock copolymers. Thus, more detailed analysis is needed since the lack of literature on the systematic comparison of these different architectures. Gradient copolymers, consisting of two or more types of monomers that are incorporated into a polymer chain with a gradually changing composition, have more variable properties and are easier to synthesize through one step, than block copolymers. This makes their usage in drug formulation very attractive. However, depending on the reactivity of monomers added, the resulting product can be very different, thus, the kinetics of the copolymerization deserves an attention of the study as well.