Poly(2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate)/Naproxen (NPX/pHEMA) and poly (2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate)/Naproxen (NPX/pHPMA) composites with different NPX content were prepared in situ by free radical photopolymerization route. The resulted hybrid materials were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). These composites have been studied as drug carrier systems, in which a comparison of the in vitro release dynamic of NPX between the two drug carrier systems has been conducted. Different factors affecting the performance of the release dynamic of this drug, such as the amount of Naproxen incorporated in the drug carrier system, the pH of the medium and the degree of swelling, have been investigated. The results of the swelling study of pHEMA and pHPMA in different media pHs revealed that the diffusion of water molecules through both polymer samples obeys the Fickian model. The “in vitro” study of the release dynamic of Naproxen from NPX/pHEMA and NPX/pHPMA drug carrier systems revealed that the higher percentage of NPX released was obtained from each polymer carrier in neutral pH medium, and the diffusion of NPX trough these polymer matrices also obeys the Fickian model. It was also found that the less the mass percent of NPX in the composites, the better its release will be. The comparison between the two drug carrier systems revealed that the pHEMA leads to the best performance in the release dynamic of NPX. Regarding Naproxen solubility in water, the results deducted from the “in vitro” study of NPX/pHEMA10 and NPX/pHPMA10 drug carrier systems revealed a very significant improvement in the solubility of NPX in media pH1 (2.33 times, 1.43 times) and 7 (3.32 times, 2.60 times), respectively, compared to those obtained by direct dissolution of Naproxen powder.

The Poly(2-chloroquinyl methacrylate-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (CQMA-co-HEMA) drug carrier system was prepared with different compositions through a free-radical copolymerization route involving 2-chloroquinyl methacrylate (CQMA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (HEMA) using azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator. 2-Chloroquinyl methacrylate monomer (CQMA) was synthesized from 2-hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and methacryloyl chloride by an esterification reaction using triethylenetetramine as the catalyst. The structure of the CQMA and CQMA-co-HEMA copolymers was confirmed by a CHN elementary analysis, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The absence of residual aggregates of HCQ or HCQMA particles in the copolymers prepared was confirmed by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and XR-diffraction (XRD) analyses. The gingival epithelial cancer cell line (Ca9-22) toxicity examined by a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay revealed that the grafting of HCQ onto PHEMA slightly affected (4.2–9.5%) the viability of the polymer carrier. The cell adhesion and growth on the CQMA-co-HEMA drug carrier specimens carried out by the (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) (MTT) assay revealed the best performance with the specimen containing 3.96 wt% HCQ. The diffusion of HCQ through the polymer matrix obeyed the Fickian model. The solubility of HCQ in different media was improved, in which more than 5.22 times of the solubility of HCQ powder in water was obtained. According to Belzer, the in vitro HCQ dynamic release revealed the best performance with the drug carrier system containing 4.70 wt% CQMA.

A series of poly(vinyl acetate-co-2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate)/acyclovir drug carrier systems (HEMAVAC) containing different acyclovir contents was prepared through bulk free radical polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate with vinyl acetate (VAc) in presence of acyclovir (ACVR) as the drug using a LED lamp in presence of camphorquinone as the photoinitiator. The structure of the drug carrier system was confirmed by FTIR and 1HNMR analysis, and the uniform dispersion of the drug particles in the carrier was proved by DSC and XRD analysis. The study of the physico-chemical properties of the prepared materials, such as the transparency, swelling capacity, wettability and optical refraction, was carried out by UV–visible analysis, a swelling test and measurement of the contact angle and the refractive index, respectively. The elastic modulus and the yield strength of the wet prepared materials were examined by dynamic mechanical analysis. The cytotoxicity of the prepared materials and cell adhesion on these systems were studied by LDH assay and the MTT test, respectively. The results obtained were comparable to those of standard lenses with a transparency of 76.90–89.51%, a swelling capacity of 42.23–81.80% by weight, a wettability of 75.95–89.04 o, a refractive index of 1.4301–1.4526 and a modulus of elasticity of 0.67–1.50 MPa, depending on the ACVR content. It was also shown that these materials exhibit no significant cytotoxicity; on the other hand, they show significant cell adhesion. The in vitro dynamic release of ACVR in water revealed that the HEMAVAC drug carrier can consistently deliver uniformly adequate amounts of ACVR (5.04–36 wt%) over a long period (7 days) in two steps. It was also found that the solubility of ACVR obtained from the release process was improved by 1.4 times that obtained by direct solubility of the drug in powder form at the same temperature.