Abstract
Surface modification of polypropylene (PP) films was achieved using gamma-irradiation-induced grafting to provide an adequate surface capable of carrying glycopeptide antibiotics. The copolymer was obtained following a versatile two-step route; pristine PP was exposed to gamma rays and grafted with methyl methacrylate (MMA), and afterward, the film was grafted with N-vinylimidazole (NVI) by simultaneous irradiation. Characterization included Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and physicochemical analysis of swelling and contact angle. The new material (PP-g-MMA)-g-NVI was loaded with vancomycin to quantify the release by UV-vis spectrophotometry at different pH. The surface of (PP-g-MMA)-g-NVI exhibited pH-responsiveness and moderate hydrophilicity, which are suitable properties for controlled drug release.
Highlights
The surface functionalization of polypropylene using conventional chemical methods presents well-known difficulties [1]
Grafting polymerization has been demonstrated as an excellent option to modify PP [4], where different methods [5] have been tried to graft vinyl monomers, such as N-vinylimidazole (NVI) [6], methyl methacrylate (MMA) [7], N-vinylcaprolactam (NVCL) [8], or glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) [9], among others
Grafting of MMA exhibited a linear slope in the absorbed dose experiment (5 to kGy) and in the time reaction experiment (5 to h) reaching a maximum grafting of 49.5% (25 kGy and 16 h) and 31% (5 kGy and 26 h), respectively (Figure 1a,b)
Summary
The surface functionalization of polypropylene using conventional chemical methods presents well-known difficulties [1] Such difficulties are attributed to the thermal stability and lack of reactivity from alkyl chains in the polymer. NVI is a vinyl molecule with an N heteroatom ring used for diverse objectives [17,18] Both carbonyl and imidazole groups can be employed in drug delivery systems, thanks to electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions drug-polymer. These polymers, PP, PMMA, and PNVI, may be implemented to design new materials with tailored properties for biomedical devices considering their biocompatibility [12,19,20]. This work presents grafting polymerization of MMA and NVI onto PP with the subsequent loading and release of vancomycin [21], where the pH-responsiveness of NVI chains [22] was studied as well as other physicochemical properties, such as swelling and contact angle
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