Synthetic polymers obtained from acrylates and methacrylates have found wide spread use in medicine as drug carriers, functional colloidal particles, biomedical applications, synthesis of polypeptide vesicles and micelles. 2-aminoethyl methacrylate (AMA) is a commercially available amine- based methacrylic polymer from which a series of copolymers were prepared. In this study 2-aminoethyl methacrylate (AMA) was homopolymerised to different degrees of polymerisation using atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) and free radical polymerisation (FRP) to afford a series of different molecular weight polyamines. The polymers were characterised using lH NMR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. The intrinsic viscosities for the polymers synthesised by ATRP and FRP were determined and viscometric constants (Mark Hauwink constants) were calculated. Modification of the polymers was done by conjugating hydrophobic side moieties (cetyl chains) with their primary amino groups to achieve amphiphilies polymers with the ability to self-assemble in aqueous media into supramolecular structures. Characterisation of the modified polymers was done by lH NMR, 13C NMR, IR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The ability of the hydrophobically-modified polymers (HMP) to self-assemble in aqueous media was studied using dynamic light scattering (DLS), and it was found that these polymers have the ability to form polymeric micelles, the size was found to depend on solution pH. To investigate the solution properties of these novels HMP, cetylated PAMAs with different degrees of modifications were prepa red. The effect of increasing the molecular weight and degree of hydrophobic substitution on the aggregation behavior of these amphiphliles in aqueous solutions was studied using DLS, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The aggregation behavior and critical association concentration were studied using surface tension measurements, and fluorescent spectroscopy using pyrene as a polarity probe. The biocompatibility of the unmodified polymers was assessed using the haemolytic activity assay, and the slug mucosal irritation test (SMIT). It was found that PAMA did not induce detectable haemolysis and the irritancy potential of these polymers
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:577769 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Al-Saffar, Fadwa Abdul-Ameer Dhahir |
| Publisher | University of Reading |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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