This dissertation presents a new class of cancer diagnostic agents composed of quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles, and amphiphilic polymers. The central hypothesis is that biocompatible, amphiphilic block copolymers can be used to create multinanoparticle micellar probes with imaging capabilities and surface properties optimized for applications in cancer diagnostics. To test this hypothesis, we investigated a number of different block copolymer structures and synthetic procedures. We found that use of a poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(ethylene oxide) polymer in conjunction with a dialysis-based procedure produced uniform probes with excellent imaging properties. We also found that the probes formed using these materials and methods were surprisingly stable, even after incubation in whole human blood for 24 hrs at 37oC. As a corollary, we hypothesized that modified polymer structures could be used to introduce functional groups for use in linking the micellar probes to biological molecules. To test this hypothesis, we used a modified version of our synthetic procedure and utilized a novel method for studying nanoparticle binding to biological molecules in real time. We found that active amine groups could be added to the polymer shell using these methods, and that surface plasmon resonance could be used for studying nanoparticle binding. In sum, this dissertation makes several contributions to the field of cancer nanotechnology. First, we provide a new encapsulation procedure and nanostructure that has promising physical and biological properties. Secondly, we provide general strategies that can be used for future nanoprobe development. Finally, we demonstrate the capability of a new method for quantitative study of probe binding characteristics. Together, these contributions drive the field of cancer nanotechnology forward by providing a deeper understanding of the relationship between surface design and behavior in biological systems.

Dans le but d’approfondir les connaissances fondamentales entre la structure des polymères associatifs intramoléculaires (polysavons) et leurs propriétés physico-chimiques en milieux aqueux, trois nouvelles familles de polymères amphiphiles cationiques ont été synthétisées par deux méthodes complémentaires permettant une grande variabilité de structure. Les polymères obtenus sont des poly(méth)acrylamides en peigne avec des groupes latéraux de type ammonium quaternaire portant une chaîne alkyle de taille variable. Une étude du comportement physico-chimique de ces polymères en solution, par viscosimétrie et spectroscopie de fluorescence avec deux sondes aux caractéristiques complémentaires, montre qu’ils présentent des propriétés de polysavons qui varient progressivement avec la structure des polymères amphiphiles étudiés, notamment la longueur de la chaîne alkyle latérale, la taille de l’espaceur entre les deux sites polaires amide et ammonium quaternaire et la masse molaire moyenne en nombre. En parallèle, la tensiométrie a montré que ces polyamphiphiles ont une très faible activité à l’interface eau/air confirmant la prédominance de l’effet hydrophobe, alors que les modèles moléculaires correspondants présentent d’excellentes propriétés tensio-actives. Des films de Langmuir ont ensuite été réalisés dans le cadre de la première étude de cette importance sur des polyamphiphiles cationiques. Dans ce domaine également, la grande variabilité de structure des polymères a permis des observations originales et de dégager de nouvelles relations entre la structure du polymère et les caractéristiques des isothermes de compression obtenues / In order to improve the fundamental knowledge of the relationships between the chemical structure of intramolecular associative polymers (polysoaps) and their physical chemical properties in aqueous media, three new families of cationic amphiphilic polymers were obtained by complementary methods offering great structure variability. The corresponding polymers were comb poly(meth)acrylamides with pendant ammonium groups with alkyl side chains of variable lengths. A first investigation of their physical chemical behaviour in aqueous solutions, by viscometry and fluorescence spectrometry with two complementary fluorescent probes, showed that they displayed polysoap properties which varied progressively with their chemical features, in particular the length of the alkyl side chain, the size of the spacer between the two polar amide and ammonium groups and the polymer molecular weight. Tensiometry confirmed the prevailing of the hydrophobic effect by showing that these polymers displayed a very weak activity at the water/air interface although the corresponding molecular models showed excellent tensio-active properties. Langmuir’s films were eventually obtained in the first study of this importance on cationic amphiphilic polymers. Here again, the great structural variability enabled original observations and new structure/properties relationships were obtained for the corresponding compression isotherms

Ce travail de thèse avait pour objectif d’élaborer un système vecteur ciblantl’endothélium pathologiquement activé dans les tissus enflammés, infectés ou tumoraux.Ce vecteur est sous forme de nanoparticules décorées de ligands glycosides capablesd’interagir avec l’E-sélectine, un récepteur exprimé sur les cellules endothélialesactivées.Nous avons mis au point une synthèse de copolymère amphiphile avec une architectureà bloc muni sur sa partie hydrophile d’un ligand glucidique. Ce copolymère a été par lasuite utilisé pour la préparation de nanoparticules de type coeur/couronne. La partiehydrophobe centrale est entourée d’une couronne hydrophile dont l'encombrementstérique et la mobilité limitent l'opsonisation de la particule. Le ciblage actif a été assurépar la présence d’un ligand du récepteur de l’E-sélectine aux extrémités des chaînes depolymères hydrophiles à la surface du vecteur.Avec ces nanoparticules dont les propriétés de surface sont prédéfinies, nous avonsmontré in vitro l’association efficace avec les cellules endothéliales activées, ce qui apermis de valider ce concept de ciblage moléculaire actif par l’intermédiaire du couplerécepteur/ ligand. Un tel système permettra d’améliorer l’indice thérapeutique et labiodistribution des principes actifs anti-inflammatoire et/ou anticancéreux. / The objective of this work was to develop a delivery system targeting pathologically activated endothelium within inflamed, infectious, and some tumoral tissues. This system is composed of nanoparticles bearing sugar residues that are able to recognize and interact with E-selectin, a receptor expressed on the activated endothelial cells.We synthesized an amphiphilic block copolymer with the hydrophilic part terminated by a carbohydrate ligand. The construction was achieved by a combination of click chemisty, ring-opening polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization. This copolymer was used to prepare nanoparticles of the core/shell type where the central hydrophobic body is surrounded with the hydrophilic shell that can stabilize the particles in aqueous media and limit their opsonisation. Active targeting was achieved by coupling an analogue of sialyl Lewis X, the physiological ligand of E-selectin to the end of the hydrophilic polymer chains on the surface of the particles.We were able to demonstrate in vitro the efficient association of these nanoparticles with defined surface properties with activated endothelial cells. This allowed us to validate our concept of active molecular targeting using this couple receptor/ligand couple. Such a system could be used to improve the therapeutically index and the biodistribution of anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor drugs.

No description available.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Block copolymers can self-assemble into a variety of periodic nanostructures and therefore, are promising candidates for a diverse range of applications. While self-assembly of block copolymers has been widely studied and exploited, graft copolymers have remained far less explored in this context. One of the primary reasons for this is that the most commonly used methods to prepare graft copolymers leads to polymers that do not have precisely defined structures; specifically, controlling the precise location of the grafted segments is a synthetically difficult challenge. In typical chain polymerization processes, statistically random incorporation of monomers takes place and consequently, the periodicity of the grafted segment along the backbone is very difficult to control precisely; therefore, such methods cannot be utilized to prepare periodically grafted copolymers. Some recent efforts towards the preparation of sequence regulated copolymers using controlled radical polymerization in conjunction with periodic dosing of a commoner could provide an alternative to better regulate the periodicity, although this will also not be perfectly periodic. The only approach to control the periodicity perfectly is to utilize condensation polymerization approaches, wherein one of the monomers serve as a spacer whereas the other provides the opportunity to install the graft segment, as depicted in Scheme 1. One of the earliest examples of the utilization of a condensation approach to locate desired units at periodic intervals was reported by Wagener and co-workers using Acrylic Diene Metathesis (ADMET) process.1 ]n periodicity ]n graft segment Scheme 1. Synthetic scheme for the preparation of periodically grafted copolymers using condensation polymerization. From our lab, Roy et al. developed periodically grafted amphiphilic copolymers (PGAC), based on a readily available starting material, diethyl malonate;2 melt trans-esterification between diethyl malonate, containing a pendant hexaethylene glycol monomethyl ether (HEG) segment and 1,22-docosane diol resulted in PGAC wherein the hydrophilic oligo ethylene glycol units were placed on every 27th atom along the backbone (Scheme 2). Such PGAC underwent self-segregation and adopted a folded zigzag conformation, which was driven by the intrinsic immiscibility of the alkylene and HEG segments and was reinforced by the strong tendency for long chain alkylene segments to crystallize in a paraffinic lattice. However, one of the drawbacks of the above approach was that the hydrophilic pendant unit was installed at the monomer stage and consequently, the synthetic approach does not allow easy variation of the hydrophilic grafted segment; this limits the flexibility and any structural variation of the pendant segment would be synthetically tedious. 150 oC DBTDL 5 20 DBTDL = Dibutyltin dilaurate Scheme 2. Synthesis of PGAC, based on diethyl malonate, and immiscibility-driven folding of such PGACs. Mandal et al. developed a more general strategy for the synthesis of such periodically grafted systems; they prepared periodically clickable polyesters carrying propargyl groups at regular intervals, by the solution polycondensation of 2-propargyl-1,3-propanediol or 2,2-dipropargyl-1,3-propanediol and the acid chloride of 1,20-eicosanedioic acid. Such periodically clickable polyesters were shown to react quantitatively with a fluoroalkyl azide3 and PEG 350 azide4, thus allowing them to place different kinds of functionalities precisely along the backbone, as shown in Scheme 3. The immiscibility of the alkylene and fluoroalkyl/PEG segments caused the polymer chains to fold in a zigzag fashion, thereby facilitating the segregation of these segments, as observed earlier in the study by Roy et al.2 The objective of this study was to place various desired functionalities along the polymer backbone and examine their effect on the self-assembly behaviour and morphology of such periodically clicked systems. Scheme 3. Synthetic scheme for the generation of periodically clickable polyesters and their subsequent functionalization via Cu-catalysed click chemistry. In Chapter 2, we describe an alternative general strategy for the scalable synthesis of periodically graftable polyesters and their subsequent functionalization to generate a wide variety of periodically grafted systems. The importance of our approach lies in our choice of the monomer, which is based on itaconic acid, an inexpensive and bio-sourced molecule. We demonstrated that dibutyl itaconate can be melt-condensed with aliphatic diols to generate unsaturated polyesters (Scheme 4); importantly, we showed that the double bonds in the itaconate moiety remain unaffected during the melt polymerization. A particularly useful attribute of these polyesters is that the exo-chain double bonds are conjugated to the ester carbonyl and therefore, can serve as excellent Michael acceptors. A variety of organic thiols, such as alkane thiols, MPEG thiol, thioglycerol, derivative cysteine etc., were shown to quantitatively Michael-add to the exo-chain double bonds and generate interesting functionalized polyesters; similarly, organic amines, such as N-methylbenzylamine, diallyl amine and proline also underwent Michael addition across the double bond (Scheme 4). Thus, such poly(alkylene itaconate)s could be utilized to place diverse functionalities at regular intervals along the polymer backbone. Scheme 4. Preparation of periodically graftable polyesters, based on itaconic acid, and their subsequent modification by Michael addition. In Chapter 3, we examined a series of periodically grafted polyesters carrying long crystallizable alkylene (C-20) segments along the backbone and pendant polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (MPEG) segments grafted at periodic intervals. Such periodically grafted amphiphilic copolymers (PGAC) having MPEG graft segments of varying lengths were prepared by utilizing the activated exo-chain double bonds in poly(icosyl itaconate) (PII) that carries a 20-carbon alkylene segment; MPEG thiols of varying lengths (TREG, 350, 550 and 750) were quantitatively grafted under standard Michael addition conditions to yield the required graft copolymers, as shown in Scheme 5. Scheme 5. Synthesis of a series of periodically grafted amphiphilic copolymers (PGAC) utilizing post-polymerization modification via Michael addition with MPEG thiols of varying lengths. The immiscibility of the backbone alkylene and pendant MPEG segments, and the strong propensity of the alkylene segments to crystallize in a paraffinic lattice, drive these systems to fold in a zigzag fashion and subsequently organize into a lamellar morphology, as shown in Scheme 6. Interestingly, all the graft copolymers exhibited a clear and invariant melting transition at ~44°C that suggested the crystallization of the backbone C-20 segment; the MPEG segments were, however, amorphous except in the case of polymers carrying MPEG 550/MPEG-750 segments, wherein a second melting transition corresponding to the independent crystallization of the PEG segment was also seen. SAXS studies indicated that all of the samples exhibited lamellar morphologies wherein more importantly, the inter-lamellar spacing was seen to increase linearly with the MPEG length (Scheme 6). This study provides a new design for controlling the dimensions of the microphase-separated nanostructures at significantly smaller length scales (sub-10 nm) than is typically possible using block copolymers. Scheme 6. Schematic representation of formation of lamellar morphology in PGACs and control of interlamellar spacing in such systems. In order to understand the influence of having a mixture of MPEG lengths on the self-assembled morphology, in Chapter 4 we prepared a series of PGACs by co-grafting the parent poly(icosyl itaconate) with a mixture of two different MPEG thiols, namely MPEG-350 and MPEG-750; the mole-ratios of these two PEGs were varied to generate co-grafted PGACs, carrying different amounts of the two MPEG segments randomly distributed along the chain (Scheme 7). Parallely, we also examined the behaviour of physical mixtures of two different PGACs, one bearing MPEG-350 and the other MPEG-750 grafts; keeping the total MPEG content constant, we sought to examine the differences in the behaviour of randomly co-grafted polymers and physical mixtures. Scheme 7. Preparation of co-grafted PGACs and physical mixtures of two different PGACs. The co-grafted PGACs also exhibited a lamellar morphology; interestingly, the inter- lamellar spacing increased linearly with the total volume of PEG domain. This suggested that despite the presence of MPEG segments of two different lengths in the co-grafted samples, there occurred a reorganization of the PEG chains within the amorphous domain ensuring that the condition of incompressibility is not violated, thereby giving rise to a weighted average interlamellar spacing, as shown in Scheme 8. In contrast, the SAXS patterns of the physical mixtures revealed the presence of two distinct lamellar domains in the sample; this indicated that the two homo-grafted samples do not mix and form separate lamellar domains. The self- segregation induced folding and subsequent crystallization of the central alkylene segments clearly appeared to dominate the final morphology. Scheme 8. Schematic depiction of the possible scenarios that could arise when MPEG segments of two different lengths, namely MPEG350 and MPEG750, are present in the PGACs; top panel depicts the co-grafted PGACs, whereas the bottom panel shows the case of mixtures of PGACs with two different MPEG lengths. In Chapter 5, we have dealt with the design and synthesis of chain-end functionalizable polyalkylene itaconates. Changing the monomer from dibutyl itaconate to dipropargyl itaconate and using it in controlled excess allowed us to generate chain-end functionalizable polymers containing propargyl groups at the chain ends, in addition to the exo-chain double bonds along the backbone, thereby providing the opportunity for orthogonal functionalization. In order to obtain three different telechelic polymers with target DPs (degree of polymerization) of 5, 10 and 20 respectively, 3 different mole ratios of the two monomers (dipropargyl itaconate and 1,20-eicosanediol) were used (Scheme 9). Scheme 9. Synthetic scheme for the generation of chain-end functionalizable polyalkylene itaconates. Orthogonal functionalization of the resultant polymers was carried out using thiol-Michael addition and Cu(I)-catalysed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (AAC), without interference between the functional handles present along the polymer backbone and the chain-end, respectively. Michael addition with triethylene glycol thiol and subsequent Cu-catalysed click reaction with MPEG 750 azide led to the generation of ABA type triblock copolymers where the middle block is a periodically grafted amphiphilic block and the two linear end blocks are hydrophilic in nature. Furthermore, such propargyl-terminated polyalkylene itaconates were used as macromonomers to prepare multiblock copolymers. The telechelic polymers were first treated with PEG 600 diazide, resulting in the formation of alternating multiblock copolymers; these multiblock copolymers were further reacted with thioglycerol to generate amphiphilic multiblock copolymers where one of the blocks is a periodically functionalized amphiphilc block, as depicted in Scheme 10. In both these amphiphilic block copolymer systems, a key feature is that the periodically functionalized amphiphilic block folds into a zigzag form, as evident from the presence of a nearly invariant melting peak corresponding to the crystallization of the alkylene segment. Scheme 10. Preparation of multiblock copolymers utilizing propargyl-terminated polyalkylene itaconates as a macromonomer. In summary, the thesis has demonstrated the design and synthesis of a series of novel amphiphilic copolymers using a bio-sourced monomer, wherein the driving theme is the immiscibility driven self-segregation that leads to the folding of the chain; these have been thoroughly examined using DSC, SAXS, WAXS, variable temperature FT-IR and AFM measurements. References (1) Berda, E. B.; Lande, R. E.; Wagener, K. B. Macromolecules 2007, 40, 8547. (2) Roy, R. K.; Gowd, E. B.; Ramakrishnan, S. Macromolecules 2012, 45, 3063. (3) Mandal, J.; Krishna Prasad, S.; Rao, D. S. S.; Ramakrishnan, S. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2014, 136, 2538. (4) Mandal, J.; Ramakrishnan, S. Langmuir 2015, 31, 6035.