Fluorophilic-lipophilic-hydrophilic poly(2-oxazoline) block copolymers as MRI contrast agents: from synthesis to self-assembly

0492559 - ÚMCH 2019 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Kaberov, Leonid I. - Verbraeken, B. - Riabtseva, Anna - Brus, Jiří - Radulescu, A. - Talmon, Y. - Štěpánek, Petr - Hoogenboom, R. - Filippov, Sergey K.
Fluorophilic-lipophilic-hydrophilic poly(2-oxazoline) block copolymers as MRI contrast agents: from synthesis to self-assembly.
Macromolecules. Roč. 51, č. 15 (2018), s. 6047-6056. ISSN 0024-9297. E-ISSN 1520-5835
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA17-00973S
Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) FWO-17-05
Program: Bilaterální spolupráce
Institutional support: RVO:61389013
Keywords : poly(2-oxazoline)s * triblock copolymers * fluorinated
OECD category: Biophysics
Impact factor: 5.997, year: 2018

This work focuses on the synthesis and self-assembly of triphilic poly(2-oxazoline) triblock copolymers with high fluorine content toward our future aim of developing poly(2-oxazoline) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. A highly fluorinated 2-substituted-2-oxazoline monomer, namely 2-(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)-2-oxazoline, was synthesized using the Grignard reaction. The polymerization kinetics of the synthesized monomer was studied, and it was used for the preparation of triblock copolymers with hydrophilic 2-methyl-2-oxazoline, hydrophobic 2-octyl-2-oxazoline, and fluorophilic blocks by cationic ring-opening polymerization yielding polymers with low relatively dispersity (1.2-1.4). The presence of the blocks with the different nature in one copolymer structure facilitated self-assembly of the copolymers in water and dimethyl sulfoxide as observed by dynamic light scattering, cryo-transmission electron microscopy, and small-angle neutron scattering. The nanoparticle morphology is strongly influenced by the order and length of each block and the nature of solvent, leading to nanoparticles with core-shell structure as confirmed by small-angle neutron scattering. The reported poly(2-oxazoline) block copolymers with high fluorine content have high potential for future development of MRI contrast agents.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0286156