PLGA from Polyscitech used as precursor for synthesis of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-g-poly-1-vinylpyrrolidin-2-one copolymers

PolySciTech Division of Akina, Inc. (www.polyscitech.com) provides a wide array of biodegradable block copolymers and polyesters such as poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA). Recently, researchers at Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali (INSTM) in Firenze, Italy have utilized PLGA from PolySciTech (Polyvivo AP059) as a chain transfer precursor for synthesizing a copolymer of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-g-poly-1-vinylpyrrolidin-2-one. The resultant polymer produced a highly stable dispersion in water indicating its potential application towards solubilizing poorly soluble materials or aiding in drug-delivery. Read more: Ranucci, Elisabetta, Giovanna Capuano, Amedea Manfredi, and Paolo Ferruti. "One‐step synthesis of poly (lactic‐co‐glycolic acid)‐g‐poly‐1‐vinylpyrrolidin‐2‐one copolymers." Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry (2016). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pola.28049/full

“ABSTRACT: The radical polymerization of 1-vinylpyrrolidin-2-one (NVP) in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) 50:50 at 100 °C leads to amphiphilic PLGA-g-PVP copolymers. Their composition is determined by FT-IR spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analyses agree with FT-IR determinations. Saponification of the PLGA-g-PVP polyester portion allows isolating the PVP side chains and measuring their molecular weight, from which the average chain transfer constant (CT) of the PLGA units is estimated. The MALDI-TOF spectra of PVP reveal the presence at one chain end of residues of either glycolic acid- or lactic acid- or lactic/glycolic acid dimers, trimers and one tetramer, the other terminal being hydrogen. This unequivocally demonstrates that grafting occurred. Accordingly, the orthogonal solvent pair ethyl acetate—methanol, while separating the components of PLGA/PVP intimate mixtures, fails to separate pure PVP or PLGA from the reaction products. All PLGA-g-PVP and PLGA/PLGA-g-PVP blends, but not PLGA/PVP blends, give long-time stable dispersions in water. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016”