Development of L-Amino Acid Based Hydroxyl Functionalized Biodegradable Amphiphilic Polyesters and Their Drug Delivery Capabilities to Cancer Cells

Hydroxyl-functionalized amphiphilic polyesters based on l-amino acid bioresources were designed and developed, and their nanoassemblies were explored as intracellular enzyme-biodegradable scaffolds for delivering anticancer drugs and fluorophores to cancer cells. To accomplish this task, acetal-masked multifunctional dicarboxylic ester monomer from l-aspartic acid was tailor-made, and it was subjected to solvent-free melt transesterification polycondensation with commercial diols to produce acetal-functionalized polyesters. Acid-catalyzed postpolymerization deprotection of these acetal-polyesters produced amphiphilic hydroxyl-functionalized polyesters. The amphiphilic polyesters were self-assembled in aqueous medium to produce nanoparticles of size <200 nm. Wide ranges of both water-soluble and water-insoluble anticancer drugs such as doxorubicin (DOX), camptothecin (CPT), and curcumin (CUR) and fluorophores such as Nile red (NR), Rose Bengal (RB), and Congo red (CR) were encapsulated in hydroxyl polyeste...