Abstract:
Cholesterol-terminated polycaprolactone (Ch-PCL) was synthesized by the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) using cholesterol(Ch) as the macro-initiator. Then, the amphiphilic block copolymer cholesterol-terminated polycaprolactone-b-polyvinyl pyrrolidone (Ch-PCL-b-PVP) was prepared by coupling reaction of the Ch-PCL and carboxyl-terminated polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-COOH), and its structure and composition were confirmed by Gel Permeation Chromatography(GPC), 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H-NMR ) spectroscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy. The Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Dynamic Laser Light Scattering (DLS) results showed that the copolymers could self-assemble into spherical micelles with the diameter about 150 nm. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) was 2.6 mg/L. Using the ibuprofen as drug model, the drug loading (DLC) and encapsulation efficiency (EE) were 32.4% and 70.1%,respectively.