Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
Single-Chain Polymer Nanoparticles for
Application in Nanomedicine
Ibon Odriozola, Miren Karmele Aiertza, Germán
Cabañero, Hans-Jürgen Grande, and Iraida Loinaz
New Materials Department, Fundación CIDETEC,
Parque Tecnológico de San Sebastían,
Paseo Miramón 196 Donostia-San Sebastián, 20009, Spain
iloinaz@cidetec.es
The synthesis of polymer nanoparticles with controlled
characteristics has become an appealing research topic lately.
Nanomedicine and, especially, drug delivery and imaging are fields
that require particles with controlled size and tailored arrangement
of functional groups. Intramolecular cross-linking or collapse of
single polymeric chain has emerged as an alternative to the synthesis
of well-defined polymeric nanoparticles. The method allows the
synthesis of particles of 1.5-20 nm size with a wide variety of
chemical composition and functionalities. This chapter discusses the
synthetic strategies described in the literature and groups them into
four main methods: homo-functional collapse, hetero-functional
collapse, cross-linker-mediated collapse, and one-block collapse
of diblock or triblock copolymers. Then, the text describes main
characterization techniques and physical properties of single-chain
polymeric nanoparticles. Finally, some applications in nanomedicine
are discussed and the chapter finishes with future perspectives.
 
 
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