A Facile Synthesis of Itaconic Acid Based Biodegradable Co-polyesters: An In-Vitro Anticancer Evaluation and Controlled Drug Delivery System

Abstract

A series of aliphatic co-polyesters were prepared via one-step polycondensation reaction of itaconic acid, 1,4-cyclohexane dimethanol and diols using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) as a catalyst. The chemical structure of the repeating units present in the polymer chains were confirmed by FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR spectral data. The glass transition temperature (Tg), melting temperature (Tm) and decomposition temperature (Td) of the co-polyesters were evaluated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The biodegradability of the synthesized co-polyesters would be qualitatively studied by hydrolytic degradation at different pH followed by studying the change in surface morphology of the co-polyesters before and after degradation using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images and the extent of crystallinity would also be studied using wide angle X-ray Diffraction (W-XRD) data. In-vitro anticancer activity of the synthesized co-polyesters were tested against human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines, all the co-polyesters show good IC50 value at lower concentration but among them PICMCD [Poly (1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol itaconate-co-1,4-cyclohexane diol itaconate)] has higher toxicity on MCF-7 cells. The drug delivery property of the co-polyesters would be investigated on tamoxifen citrate using spray down tablet coating process and PICMCD found to be a potential drug carrier.