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New bio-based polyethers open up potential for temperature-controlled drug release
A German-Austrian research team has developed new amphiphilic copolymers based on biobased oleyl glycidyl ether (OlGE). The materials exhibit interesting thermal properties and could be used in future as temperature-controlled carriers in drug delivery.
A team led by Holger Frey and Sebastian Seiffert from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is presenting novel amphiphilic copolymers made up of the hydrophobic, bio-based monomer oleyl glycidyl ether (OlGE) and the hydrophilic ethylene oxide. OlGE was synthesised from fatty acids of natural origin and epichlorohydrin. The resulting materials exhibit a high degree of structural control (dispersity ≤ 1.08) and can be linked by anionic ring-opening polymerisation with mPEG macroinitiators to form block copolymers.
Surprisingly, it was found that the two structurally very different monomers copolymerise almost ideally in a random manner (reactivity ratios rEO = 1.27, rOlGE = 0.78). In addition to random copolymers, mPEG-b-POlGE block copolymers in aqueous solution were investigated in particular – with a focus on their thermal behaviour.
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Two melting points and functional modification
The block copolymers showed two different melting points (Tms): one comes from the PEG portion, the other is due to the crystallisable cis-alkenyl side chains of the OlGE units. The targeted partial hydrogenation of these side chains with potassium azodicarboxylate (PADA) allows fine control of the Tm value. In addition, the copolymers can be further functionalised by means of a thiol-ene reaction.
The authors see the developed materials as promising candidates for bio-based polyether systems, particularly in the field of temperature-controlled release systems for active pharmaceutical ingredients. The copolymers could also be used as novel surfactants.
Source: Polymer Chemistry, Issue 21, 2025, Royal Society of Chemistry
