Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-2-2021

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Davita Watkins

Second Advisor

Susan Pedigo

Third Advisor

Gerald Rowland

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Linear dendritic block copolymers are amphiphilic molecules that consist of a dendritic hydrophilic portion and a linear hydrophobic portion. Its unique ability to self-assemble into spherical nanoaggregates while having the potential to uptake and transport both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs makes these polymers an item of interest in regard to the drug delivery field. The synthesis of polyamidoamine-polylactide linear dendritic block copolymers was designed to address the common issues in drug delivery systems, including problems in permeability, solubility, stability, specificity, and retention. Though this linear dendritic block copolymer has previously been synthesized in our lab with cationic amine surface functionalities, this study dives deeper into the potential of these polymers by synthesizing a dendritic segment with varying surface functionalities: carboxylate and alcohol. The hydrophobic polylactide portion of the copolymer is connected to the hydrophilic PAMAM portion through ring-opening polymerization (ROP) with a weight percentage of 70 with regard to the polylactide portion. The synthesis of these two molecules were completed in this study and confirmed through NMR. The size, morphology, and charge of the self-assembled nanoparticles were analyzed through the use of electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential values. The results of this study show the potential of these nanoparticles to make an impact in biomedical applications.

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