Polyether fluorinated amphiphilic diblock polymer: Preparation, characterization and application as drug delivery agent

Amphiphilic polymers or polymeric surfactants forming nano micelles in water have been considered as suitable candidates for loading poor water solubility drugs as they are often featured as excellent bioavailability, biodegradation and entrapment ability. Therefore, in this paper we prepared a series of polyether MPEG-EPTF fluorinated diblock polymers (copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether and fluorinated epichlorohydrin) with different composition and molecular weight through living cationic polymerization. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of these fluorinated polymers and the effect of structure on surface activity are researched in this paper. The particle sizes of nano micelles determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are less than 100 nm, which can perfectly meet the size requirements of micelles used in human body. Besides, the fluorinated amphiphilic polymer can also be employed to load and carry baicalin so as to enhance its solubility in water, and the drug loading (DL) and entrapment efficiency (EE) of these nano systems are very outstanding, reaching to approximately 77.58% and 38.79% respectively. Cumulative release pattern in vitro tested by UV-vis had shown that little amounts baicalin (about 20%) are released over 60 h in vitro.