Preparation and characterization of nanocomposites based on poly(N-vinycaprolactam) and magnetic nanoparticles for using as drug delivery system

Abstract

In this work, magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) were grafted with poly (N-vinylcaprolactam) (PNVCL) chains via free radical polymerization for being used as carrier of doxorubicin (DOX). Grafting of PNVCL on these magnetic NPs was corroborated by studies of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The in vitro DOX release was studied at physiological temperature in phosphate buffer solution 7.4. Also, hemolysis assays were carried out in order to investigate the biocompatibility of the magnetic nanocomposites. Composite nanoparticles exhibited a spherical morphology with a magnetic core and a polymer layer. The polymer-grafted magnetite NPs showed a high hemobiocompatibility with DOX encapsulation efficiency of about 35–47% and a maximum DOX cumulative in vitro release of 42% which depended of the polymer content in the nanocomposite. These results show that obtained magnetic functional nanocomposites could have the potential to be used as nanocarriers of DOX.