TY - JOUR TI - Optimization and troubleshooting of polymer synthesis for self-assembly of tyrosine-based nanospheres DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3JQ13BD PY - 2016 AB - Synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-oligo(DTO suberate) -block-poly(ethylene glycol), a tyrosine-based ABA triblock copolymer was conducted in an effort to match specifications of a previous batch of polymer used in to self-assemble into nanospheres for drug delivery in previously published work. Though synthesis was successful and the polymer’s physical and thermal specifications were met, the resulting nanospheres did not meet the size specifications of past samples. Polymer synthesis was optimized both by varying the amount of coupling agent used in the reaction as well as varying the monomeric excess of suberic acid using the Carothers's equation. This work resulted in tunable nanospheres based on polymer molecular weight. Varying of coupling agent was found to produce polymers of different molecular weights albeit in a random fashion. Use of monomeric excess was found to reproducibly produce polymers of varying molecular weights. Additionally nanosphere preparation was also studied to determine whether the use of sucrose during nanosphere self-assembly would result in an increased polymer yield. The use of a sucrose solution during nanosphere preparation was found to cause no improvement in polymer yield and is in fact believed to have the opposite effect. KW - Chemistry and Chemical Biology KW - Polymers LA - eng ER -