Leila Barghi
1,2, Davoud Asgari
1, Jaleh Barar
1,3, Hadi Valizadeh
1,4*1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
3 Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
4 Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Purpose:
Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a biodegradable polyester and has attracted attention
as a suitable carrier for development of controlled drug delivery due to its
non-toxicity and biocompatibility. It has been reported that the
biodegradability of PCL can be enhanced by copolymerization with PEG. Molecular
weight (Mw) and CL block lengths optimization in a series of synthesized PCEC
copolymers was the main purpose of this study.
Methods:
The composition of copolymers was designed using full factorial methodology.
Molecular weight of used PEG (4 levels) and weight ratio of
epsilon-caprolactone/PEG (3 levels) were selected as independent variables. The
PCEC copolymers were synthesized by ring opening polymerization. Formation of
copolymers was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy as well as H-NMR. The Mn
of PCEC copolymers was calculated from HNMR spectra. The thermal behavior of
copolymers was characterized on differential scanning calorimeter.
Results:
Molecular weight of twelve synthesized copolymers was ranged from 1782 to 9264.
In order to evaluate the effect of selected variables on the copolymers
composition and Mw, a mathematical model for each response parameter with
p-value less than 0.001were obtained. Average
percent error for prediction of total Mn
of copolymers and Mn
of CL blocks were 13.81% and 14.88% respectively.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the proposed model is significantly valid due to obtained low
percent error in Mn prediction of test sets.