Biodegradable Polymer-Drug Conjugates for pH-Sensitive Anti-Cancer Drug Delivery

Polymer-drug conjugates represent a selective and novel chemotherapy approach for cancer treatment. Polycaprolactone and polylactide were chosen as the building blocks for drug delivery systems because of their biodegradability. Accordingly, two ester-based monomers with an acetylene or allyl group were designed to allow for the attachment of anti-cancer drugs and solubility-enhancing groups with the resulting polymers. The anti-cancer drugs, doxorubicin and paclitaxel, were conjugated with the polymer chains using pH-sensitive linkages. Novel “click chemistries” were utilized throughout the synthesis of the polymer-drug conjugates. Precursors of the conjugates have been obtained with sufficient yields and characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC).