Surface Properties and Drug Release Behavior of Polycaprolactone Polyether Blend and Copolymer

Abstract

The surface properties of polycaprolactone (PCL)–poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) block copolymer (PCE) and blend (B‐PCE) of PCL and PEG obviously affect the drug release behavior of the polymer. In this paper, both surface properties of PCE and B‐PCE are studied and compared by measuring their water sorption and using the contact angle and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique. The effect of the polyether segment content in PCE and B‐PCE on hydrophilicity is discussed. The results show that a hydrophilic polyether segment moves towards the surface and enriches on the surface for either PCE or B‐PCE. The enrichment content of the polyether segment of PCE and the hydrophilicity of its surface are higher than that of B‐PCE. A reason for the different drug release rates for PCE and B‐PCE is suggested.

Morphology and biodegradation of microspheres of polyester-polyether block copolymer based on polycaprolactone/polylactide/poly(ethylene oxide)

“…The depth of the XPS determination can be affected by the emission angle of electron beam, so that where d is the determining depth, θ is the emission angle of the electron beam, and λ is the average free distance. The λ value for the general polymer is about 5.0 nm, so the surface composition at different depths can be determined by adjusting the emission angle θ of the electron beam 16…”

Doxorubicin and β-Lapachone Release and Interaction with Micellar Core Materials: Experiment and Modeling

“…Sharp et al have shown that water uptake by PLA is about 3% for 10 kDa molecular weight and increases with a decrease of molecular weight (48). The water uptake by PCL is very minor-it can be extrapolated to be not more than 1% (49). Another possible reason is the difference in physicochemical properties of PLA, an amorphous polymer, and PCL, a semicrystalline polymer (at least at large molecular weights).…”

Batch preparation and characterization of ZnO/PLGA/PCL nanofiber membranes for antibacterial materials

“…However, the disadvantages of PLGA lie in poor mechanical property [5,6] and short degradation period [7] so that it can not satisfy the requirement of medical tissue materials. Poly(ε-caprolactone)/ (PCL) is a nontoxic, biodegradable and biocompatible polymer, which has been approved for biomedical applications, such as drug delivery, [8] medical apparatuses, [9] in vitro cell cultures [10] and biodegradable packing materials. [11] Due to its good mechanical properties and electrospinnability, PCL is often used as a functional component to improve the properties of eletrospun materials.…”