Tunable Amphiphilic Poly(Ether‐Anhydride) Gel Nanoparticles for the Delivery of Hydrophobic Drugs

Abstract

AbstractSummary: Biodegradable amphiphilic poly(ether‐anhydride) gel nanoparticles (GNPs) with a hydrophobic crosslinked core and a hydrophilic PEG shell have been prepared from amphiphilic photo‐crosslinkable ether‐anhydride macromers via microemulsion photo‐polymerization. The properties of the GNPs, such as degradability, size and drug‐loading capacity, were investigated by tailoring the length of PEG chains in macromers from 400 to 4000 and by the addition of a hydrophobic photo‐crosslinkable monomer: stearic monoacrylic anhydride (MSA). TEM showed that the GNPs were spherical in shape with a core‐shell structure when MSA was added. The GNPs were used as the carriers to enhance the solubility of hydrophobic drugs. Indomethacin (IND) as a model drug was entrapped in the hydrophobic crosslinked core by an in situ embedding method. Results showed that IND maintained chemically intact during the formulation process, and its dissolution rate were improved compared to those of the pure IND. The GNPs prepared from PEG macromer (molecular weight: 4000) with the addition of MSA exhibited the zero‐order release behavior, which is potentially useful to control the release of hydrophobic drugs.