Stimuli-Responsive Aliphatic Polycarbonate Nanocarriers for Tumor-Targeted Drug Delivery

Nanoparticles based on amphiphilic copolymers with tunable physicochemical properties can be used to encapsulate delicate pharmaceutics while at the same time improving their solubility, stability, pharmacokinetic properties, reducing immune surveillance, or achieving tumor-targeting ability. Those nanocarriers based on biodegradable aliphatic polycarbonates are a particularly promising platform for drug delivery due to flexibility in the design and synthesis of appropriate monomers and copolymers. Current studies in this field focus on the design and the synthesis of new effective carriers of hydrophobic drugs and their release in a controlled manner by exogenous or endogenous factors in tumor-specific regions. Reactive groups present in aliphatic carbonate copolymers, undergo a reaction under the action of a stimulus: e.g., acidic hydrolysis, oxidation, reduction, etc. leading to changes in the morphology of nanoparticles. This allows the release of the drug in a highly controlled manner and induces a desired therapeutic outcome without damaging healthy tissues. The presented review summarizes the current advances in chemistry and methods for designing stimuli-responsive nanocarriers based on aliphatic polycarbonates for controlled drug delivery.

Ring opening copolymerization of ε-caprolactone and diselenic macrolide carbonate for well-defined poly(ester-co-carbonate): kinetic evaluation and ROS/GSH responsiveness

Theoretical calculations agreed well with the experimental results. The competitive mechanism was proposed to clarify the composition and structure of the copolymers.

One-shot synthesis and solution properties of ROS/pH responsive methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polycarbonate

A one-shot method was employed to synthesize ROS/pH responsive methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polycarbonate (mPEG-b-poly(MN-co-MSe)) with the selenide and tertiary amine groups situated on the backbone.

Cationic polycarbonates via ring-opening polymerization: design, synthesis, and applications

The synthetic methods and applications of cationic polycarbonates via ring-opening polymerization are highlighted.