Abstract
A family of thermo-responsive and amphiphilic block copolymers containing hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) as hydrophilic block and one of the three hydrophobic blocks – amino terminated polylactide, poly(ε-caprolactone) and JEFFAMINE were synthesized through reductive amination of the hemiacetal chain end of HPMC. The resulting copolymers were characterized by NMR, DOSY-NMR, GPC and FT-IR. They are able to self-assemble into spherical micelles in aqueous medium. The micelle size increases with increase of the hydrophilic block length, whereas the critical micelle concentration decreases with increase of the hydrophobic block length. The topology of copolymers strongly affects their self-assembly properties. The cloud point of copolymer solution is dependent on the hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio and topology. Two hydrophobic drugs, paclitaxel and curcumin were loaded in copolymer micelles to evaluate their drug loading and release properties. The copolymers present outstanding cytocompatibility to L929 cells, and drug loaded micelles exhibit cytotoxicity to SK-BR-3 cells, thus showing their potential as nano-carrier of antitumor drugs.