Radical ring-opening polymerization-induced self-assembly for the synthesis of degradable particles incorporating ethyl lipoate

Abstract

Polymeric nanoparticles are widely used in biomedical applications due to their ability to protect cargo, enhance bioavailability and enable controlled cargo release. Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) is a versatile and scalable approach for nanoparticle preparation. However, the majority of PISA-derived systems lack degradability, which limits their potential for biomedical applications. Herein, we report a radical ring-opening polymerization-induced self-assembly (rROPISA) strategy to prepare redox-responsive degradable vinyl copolymer nanoparticles incorporating up to 30 mol% ethyl lipoate (LpEt). LpEt is the ethyl ester of the naturally occurring small molecule lipoic acid (LA)..