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Block Copolymers for Drug Carriers/Vehicles
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Block Copolymers for Drug Carriers/Vehicles

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 5594

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Kwon Taek Lim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Major of Display Semiconductor Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea
Interests: polymer chemistry; polymeric micelles; hydrogels; block copolymers; drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The past decade has witnessed great advancement in the design and synthesis of block copolymers in biomedical applications, especially for the intracellular delivery of therapeutic agents. With the understanding of disease pathology, various strategies have been gradually established for guiding the preparation of novel drug formulations. Block copolymer-based carriers are one of the most versatile techniques in recent years because of its ability to solve the challenges associated with delivering poor solubility of therapeutic compounds. Block copolymers with an amphiphilic nature are known to self-assemble in an aqueous medium into polymeric micelles with a micro- to nanosize range, which are characterized by their unique core–shell architecture. Space created inside the micelle core can be used for transportation of drug molecules of hydrophobic nature, low solubility in blood, and with numerous side effects to the human body, especially those for cancer treatments.

The advent of modern macromolecular synthesis tools such as living radical polymerizations and various “click” chemistry strategies was simultaneously employed for the synthesis of various stimuli-responsive block copolymers. Recently, plenty of nanosized drug delivery vehicles were engineered from stimuli-responsive block copolymers to release their therapeutic cargo into pathological sites according to specific intracellular stimuli triggers.

The design of drug delivery vehicles requires taking care of all these aspects, and then something useful can come out for commercial use, which is still the driving force in this field. In view of this vast scenario of applications, researchers continue to propose new block copolymers characterized by improved features and biocompatibility, as well as innovative applications.

This issue aims to introduce the current state-of-the-art concerning polymeric drug delivery systems and to envision future perspectives. The topical subjects to be addressed include synthetic block polymers, natural polymers, bioconjugation of polymers, stimuli-responsive block copolymers, bioactive polymers, smart polymers, nanogels, hydrogels, the dynamics of polymers crossing biological barriers, targeted drug delivery, etc.

Considering your prominent contribution in this research area, I would like to invite you to submit high-quality original communications, full-length research articles, and reviews for this Special Issue.

Prof. Kwon Taek Lim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Block copolymers
  • Drug delivery
  • Stimuli-responsive
  • Stimuli-triggered
  • Micelles
  • Nanogels
  • Cross-linked micelles
  • Hydrogels
  • Biocompatible
  • Targeted drug delivery
  • Nanomedicines

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 3525 KiB  
Article
Preparation of Doxorubicin-Loaded Amphiphilic Poly(D,L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide)-b-Poly(N-Acryloylmorpholine) AB2 Miktoarm Star Block Copolymers for Anticancer Drug Delivery
by Kalyan Ramesh, Avnish Kumar Mishra, Jin Kon Kim, Yeon Tae Jeong, Yeong-Soon Gal and Kwon Taek Lim
Materials 2020, 13(17), 3713; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13173713 - 22 Aug 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2586
Abstract
Owing to their unique topology and physical properties, micelles based on miktoarm amphiphilic star block copolymers play an important role in the biomedical field for drug delivery. Herein, we developed a series of AB2-type poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide)-b-poly(N-acryloyl morpholine) (PLGA-b-PNAM2) [...] Read more.
Owing to their unique topology and physical properties, micelles based on miktoarm amphiphilic star block copolymers play an important role in the biomedical field for drug delivery. Herein, we developed a series of AB2-type poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide)-b-poly(N-acryloyl morpholine) (PLGA-b-PNAM2) miktoarm star block copolymers by reversible addition–fragmentation chain–transfer polymerization and ring-opening copolymerization. The resulting miktoarm star polymers were investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. The critical micellar concentration value of the micelles increases with an increase in PNAM block length. As revealed by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering, the amphiphilic miktoarm star block copolymers can self-assemble to form spherical micellar aggregates in water. The anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was encapsulated by polymeric micelles; the drug-loading efficiency and drug-loading content of the DOX-loaded micelles were 81.7% and 9.1%, respectively. Acidic environments triggered the dissociation of the polymeric micelles, which led to the more release of DOX in pH 6.4 than pH 7.4. The amphiphilic PLGA-b-PNAM2 miktoarm star block copolymers may have broad application as nanocarriers for controlled drug delivery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Block Copolymers for Drug Carriers/Vehicles)
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14 pages, 4104 KiB  
Article
Diselenide Core Cross-Linked Micelles of Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-b-Poly(Glycidyl Methacrylate) Prepared through Alkyne-Azide Click Chemistry as a Near-Infrared Controlled Drug Delivery System
by Sonita A.P. Siboro, Sabrina Aufar Salma, Hyeung-Rak Kim, Yeon Tae Jeong, Yeong-Soon Gal and Kwon Taek Lim
Materials 2020, 13(12), 2846; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13122846 - 25 Jun 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2473
Abstract
In this article, a drug delivery system with a near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive feature was successfully prepared using a block copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-azide (PEO-b-PGMA-N3) and a cross-linker containing a Se-Se bond through “click” chemistry. Doxorubicin (DOX) was [...] Read more.
In this article, a drug delivery system with a near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive feature was successfully prepared using a block copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-azide (PEO-b-PGMA-N3) and a cross-linker containing a Se-Se bond through “click” chemistry. Doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded into the core-cross-linked (CCL) micelles of the block copolymer along with indocyanine green (ICG) as a generator of reactive oxygen species (ROS). During NIR light exposure, ROS were generated by ICG and attacked the Se-Se bond of the cross-linker, leading to de-crosslinking of the CCL micelles. After NIR irradiation, the CCL micelles were continuously disrupted, which can be a good indication for effective drug release. Photothermal analysis showed that the temperature elevation during NIR exposure was negligible, thus safe for normal cells. In vitro drug release tests demonstrated that the drug release from diselenide CCL micelles could be controlled by NIR irradiation and affected by the acidity of the environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Block Copolymers for Drug Carriers/Vehicles)
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