SYNTHESIS OF A NOVEL POLY(MEPEG CYANOACRYLATE-CO-ALKYL CYANOACRYLATE)AMPHIPHILIC COPOLYMER FOR NANOPARTICLE TECHNOLOGY

In order to develop ''stealth'' injectable PEG-coated poly(alkyl cyano acrylate) (PACA) nanoparticles, a novel poly(MePEG cyanoacrylate-co-al kyl cyanoacrylate) copolymer has been synthetized in a simple way by c ondensing MePEG cyanoacetate esters with formaldehyde in the presence of dimethylamine. This approach allowed the covalent linkage of PEG mo ieties to the cyanoacrylate polymer, thus avoiding the risk of desorpt ion of PEG, as in the case of a PEG coating obtained by simple adsorpt ion onto preformed nanoparticles. In addition, the condensation proced ure allowed a better control of the polymerization process than in the case of anionic polymerization of alkyl cyanoacrylates. Finally, we h ave shown that the hydrophobicity of the copolymer can be perfectly mo dulated by adjusting the MePEG cyanoacetate/alkyl cyanoacetate ratio. Characterization of the copolymer has been performed by NMR, GPC, and FTIR analysis. Monodispersed nanoparticles were easily prepared by nan oprecipitation of this amphiphilic copolymer.