In this study, the phase transition phenomena of linear poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and linear or star-shaped poly(acrylic acid-co-methyl acrylate) (P(AA-co-MA)) in highly concentrated KCl solutions were investigated. The effects of polymer molecular weight, topology, and composition on their phase transition behavior in solution were investigated. The cloud point temperature (TCP) of polymers drastically increased as the KCl concentration (CKCl) and solution pH increased. CKCl strongly influenced the temperature range at which the phase transition of PAA occurred: CKCl of 1.0–2.2 M allowed the phase transition to occur between 30 and 75 °C. Unfortunately, at CKCl above 2.6 M, the TCP of PAA was too high to theoretically trigger the crystallization of KCl. The addition of hydrophobic methyl acrylate moieties decreased the TCP into a temperature region where KCl crystallization could occur. Additionally, the hydrodynamic diameters (Dh) and zeta potentials of commercial PAA samples were examined at room temperature and at their TCP using dynamic light scattering. The salt concentration (from 1 to 3 M) did not impact the hydrodynamic diameter of the molecules. Dh values were 1500 and 15 nm at room temperature and at TCP, respectively.

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The presented drug delivery polymeric systems (DDS), i.e., conjugates and self-assemblies, based on grafted and star-shaped polymethacrylates have been studied for the last few years in our group. This minireview is focused on the relationship of polymer structure to drug conjugation/entrapment efficiency and release capability. Both graft and linear polymers containing trimethylammonium groups showed the ability to release the pharmaceutical anions by ionic exchange, but in aqueous solution they were also self-assembled into nanoparticles with encapsulated nonionic drugs. Star-shaped polymers functionalized with ionizable amine/carboxylic groups were investigated for drug conjugation via ketimine/amide linkers. However, only the conjugates of polybases were water-soluble, giving opportunity for release studies, whereas the self-assembling polyacidic stars were encapsulated with the model drugs. Depending on the type of drug loading in the polymer matrix, their release rates were ordered as follows: Physical ≥ ionic > covalent. The studies indicated that the well-defined ionic polymethacrylates, including poly(ionic liquid)s, are advantageous for designing macromolecular carriers due to the variety of structural parameters, which are efficient for tuning of drug loading and release behavior in respect to the specific drug interactions.

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Well-defined, semi-degradable polyester/polymethacrylate block copolymers, based on ε-caprolactone (CL), d,l-lactide (DLLA), glycolide (GA) and N,N′-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) and atom transfer radical polymerization. Comprehensive degradation studies of poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(N,N′-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PCL-b-PDMAEMA) on hydrolytic degradation and enzymatic degradation were performed, and those results were compared with the corresponding aliphatic polyester (PCL). The solution pH did not affect the hydrolytic degradation rate of PCL (a 3% Mn loss after six weeks). The presence of a PDMAEMA component in the copolymer chain increased the hydrolysis rates and depended on the solution pH, as PCL-b-PDMAEMA degraded faster in an acidic environment (36% Mn loss determined) than in a slightly alkaline environment (27% Mn loss). Enzymatic degradation of PCL-b-PDMAEMA, poly(d,l-lactide)-block-poly(N,N′-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PLA-b-PDMAEMA) and poly(lactide-co-glycolide-co-ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(N,N′-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PLGC-b-PDMAEMA) and the corresponding aliphatic polyesters (PCL, PLA and PLGC) was performed by Novozyme 435. In enzymatic degradation, PLGC degraded almost completely after eleven days. For polyester-b-PDMAEMA copolymers, enzymatic degradation primarily involved the ester bonds in PDMAEMA side chains, and the rate of polyester degradation decreased with the increase in the chain length of PDMAEMA. Amphiphilic copolymers might be used for biomaterials with long-term or midterm applications such as nanoscale drug delivery systems with tunable degradation kinetics.