Nano-Star-Shaped Polymers for Drug Delivery Applications.
Macromol Rapid Commun
; 38(21)2017 Nov.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28895248
ABSTRACT
With the advancement of polymer engineering, complex star-shaped polymer architectures can be synthesized with ease, bringing about a host of unique properties and applications. The polymer arms can be functionalized with different chemical groups to fine-tune the response behavior or be endowed with targeting ligands or stimuli responsive moieties to control its physicochemical behavior and self-organization in solution. Rheological properties of these solutions can be modulated, which also facilitates the control of the diffusion of the drug from these star-based nanocarriers. However, these star-shaped polymers designed for drug delivery are still in a very early stage of development. Due to the sheer diversity of macromolecules that can take on the star architectures and the various combinations of functional groups that can be cross-linked together, there remain many structure-property relationships which have yet to be fully established. This review aims to provide an introductory perspective on the basic synthetic methods of star-shaped polymers, the properties which can be controlled by the unique architecture, and also recent advances in drug delivery applications related to these star candidates.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Polímeros
/
Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos
/
Nanopartículas
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article