Synthesis and characterization of poly(ethylene glycol) grafted polysuccinimide

Poly(amino acid) derivatives have been widely investigated as a drug carrier in drug delivery system. Particularly, polysuccinimide (PSI) is one of the most promising drug carriers since it possesses suitable physicochemical characteristics for development of macromolecular prodrugs, due to biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this study, we deal with the synthesis of polyaspartamide having various functional groups such as methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG) via ring closing of PSI. PSI was synthesized by polyonensation polymerization of aspartic acid. The variety of average molecular weight was confirmed with reacion time and catalyst content to observe the optimum condition of synthesis. MPEG, hydrophilic chain, was bonded to fabricate polymeric micell composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymer. All materials were characterized by ¹H-NMR, FT-IR and GPC. In addition, the formation of nanoparticle micelle as drug carrier were also examined. Micelle size was measured by ELS and AFM. The functionalized polysparamide formed nanoparticle micelle whose size ranged from 90 to 130 nm. In conclusion, we prepared polyaspartamide functionalized with PEG examined the possibility as drug carriers.