Biodegradable Core-Shell Materials via RAFT and ROP: Characterization and Comparison of Hyperbranched and Microgel Particles

Two methodologies for synthesizing novel, degradable, core cross linked copolymer particles were investigated and the molecular properties of the resultant polymers were compared. The. first approach was to synthesize hyperbranched poly(epsilon-caprolactone-co-N,N-dimethylamino-2-ethyl methacrylate (PCL-co-PDMAEMA) by combining metal-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of epsilon-caprolactone (epsilon-CL) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) of N,N-dimethylamino-2-ethyl methacrylate. First, the hyperbranched core was prepared via ROP copolymerization of epsilon-CL and branching agent 4,4-bioxepanyl-7,7-dione (BOD). This polymerization was initiated using the hydroxyl moiety of the bifunctional initiator 4-cyano-1-hydroxypent-4-yl dithiobenzoate (ACP-RAFT) which resulted in reactive pendent RAFT groups located in the polymer chains. The hyperbranched structure was confirmed by GPC-MALLS and NMR. Subsequent chain extension of this hyperbranched macromolecule with DMAEMA using RAFT chemistry yielded water-soluble nanoparticles. The second method involved the synthesis of core-cross-linked-shell particles (CCS) by the arm-first route. Linear arms of DMAEMA were synthesized using ACP-RAFT and subsequently used as macroinitiator for the ROP of epsilon-CL and BOD to form a degradable microgel that was water-soluble. Once again, molecular structure was analyzed by H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, and GPC and molecular size by TEM. Finally, GPC-MALLS was used to qualitatively investigate the different cross-link densities of the degradable core by the two different methodologies. Thus, we demonstrate two synthetic approaches for constructing water-soluble, degradable core-shell nanoparticles that exhibit varying degrees of cross-linking by combining RAFT and ROP.