Thermo- and pH-responsive polymers in drug delivery.

Interest in thermoresponsive polymers has steadily grown over many decades, and a great deal of work has been dedicated to developing temperature sensitive macromolecules that can be crafted into new smart materials. However, the overwhelming majority of previously reported temperature-responsive polymers are based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), despite the fact that a wide range of other thermoresponsive polymers have demonstrated similar promise for the preparation of adaptive materials. Herein, we aim to highlight recent results that involve thermoresponsive systems that have not yet been as fully considered. Many of these (co)polymers represent clear opportunities for advancements in emerging biomedical and materials fields due to their increased biocompatibility and tuneable response. By highlighting recent examples of newly developed thermoresponsive polymer systems, we hope to promote the development of new generations of smart materials.

New directions in thermoresponsive polymers.

Recent advances and challenges in designing stimuli-responsive polymers

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2017/PY/C6PY01585A

Stimuli-responsive polymers and their applications

Stimuli-responsive polymers have been attracting great interest within the scientific community for several decades. The unique feature to respond to small changes in the environmental conditions has made this class of materials very promising for several applications in the field of nanoscience, nanotechnology and nanomedicine. So far, several different chemical, physical or biochemical stimuli have been investigated within natural or synthetic polymers. Very interesting and appealing seems to be the combination of several stimuli to tune the properties of these materials in manifold ways. Within this present review, we want to highlight the recent progress in the field of synthetic stimuli-responsive polymers combining temperature and light responsiveness.

Temperature- and light-responsive smart polymer materials

The thermally induced phase separation of aqueous poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PDEA) was studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry and UV−visible spectrophotometry. The polymer was show...

Thermosensitivity of Aqueous Solutions of Poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide)

The molecular weight dependence of the lower critical solution temperature of poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) was studied with 11 samples of the polymer with a number-average molecular weight (Mn) rang...

Effect of the molecular weight on the lower critical solution temperature of poly(N, N-diethylacrylamide) in aqueous solutions

To test the effect of the matrix polymer on diffusion, we have measured the self-diffusion coefficients of water and poly(ethylene glycol) of a molecular weight of 600 (PEG-600) in aqueous systems of selected polymers using the pulsed-gradient spin-echo NMR technique. The polymers used in this study include poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PNNDEA), and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA). The polymer concentrations varied from 0 to 0.38 g/mL. The effect of the polymer network on the self-diffusion coefficients of the solvent (water) and a solute (PEG-600) was investigated by analyzing the diffusion data with the use of the free volume model of Yasuda et al. [Yasuda, H.; Lamaze, C. E.; Ikenberry, L. D. Makromol. Chem. 1968, 118, 19], the diffusion model proposed by Phillies [Phillies, G. D. J. Macromolecules 1986, 19, 2367], and the model of Petit et al. [Petit, J.-M.; Roux, B.; Zhu, X. X.; Macdonald, P. M. Macromolecules 1996, 29, 6031]. The re...

D. Lessard

Papers

Thermosensitivity of Aqueous Solutions of Poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide)

Effect of the molecular weight on the lower critical solution temperature of poly(N, N-diethylacrylamide) in aqueous solutions

Self-diffusion studies of water and poly(ethylene glycol) in solutions and gels of selected hydrophilic polymers