Tunable Biocompatible and Biodegradable Thermoresponsive Polycaprolactones

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The Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the NSF Division of Chemistry supports Professors Mihaela C. Stefan and Michael C. Biewer of the University of Texas at Dallas to develop biodegradable and biocompatible polymers. The polymers of interest contain both water-friendly (hydrophilic) and water repellent (hydrophobic) segments can assemble in water to form core-shell structures in which the water-insoluble molecules can be loaded. The most attractive property of these polymers is their degradation in water media making them environmentally friendly materials. The project provides training to graduate and undergraduate students in the synthesis and characterization of organic compounds and polymers. High school students are given the opportunity to contribute in a summer research project to learn skills in a chemistry laboratory environment.The objective of this proposed research is to develop polycaprolactone amphiphilic block copolymers that are biodegradable, biocompatible, and thermoresponsive. The research team aims to control the thermoresponsivity of the amphiphilic block copolymers by varying the ratio between the hydrophilic oligoethylene glycol substituted polycaprolactone hydrophilic block and the hydrophobic polycaprolactone block. To understand the dependence of the degradation rate on the structure of the block copolymers and their composition, the team investigates the effects of changing the linkage of the substituent on the monomers from ether to thioether, and from ester to thioester, on the polymer degradation rate. In addition, investigation of the self-assembly of the synthesized amphiphlic polycaprolactone block copolymers is conducted to obtain a correlation between the molecular structure and the size of micelles.