ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Design of polyglycidol-containing microspheres for biomedical applications

Teresa Basinska and Stanislaw Slomkowski

Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Department of Engineering of Polymer Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sienkiewicza 112, 90-363 Lodz, Poland

E-mail: basinska@cbmm.lodz.pl

Abstract: The paper presents a short review on the synthesis, characterisation and selected medical applications of poly(styrene/α-tert-butoxy-ω-vinylbenzyl-polyglycidol) (P(S/PGL)) microspheres. The soap-free emulsion-polymerisation of styrene and α-tert-butoxy-ω-vinylbenzyl-polyglycidol macromonomer (PGL) in water yielded core-shell microspheres with a low particle-diameter dispersity (ratio of the weight average particle diameter and the number average particle diameter). The interfacial fraction of PGL units, estimated by XPS, was in the range of 0–42 mole % depending on the concentration of the macromonomer in the polymerisation feed. The studies of adsorption of model proteins showed that the surface fraction of adsorbed protein was significantly reduced when the PGL interfacial fraction was higher than 40 mole %. The P(S/PGL) particles with covalently immobilised proteins were used for the preparation of photonic crystal assemblies suitable for applications in optical biosensors and the medical diagnostic test for the detection of Helicobacter pylori antibodies in the blood serum.

Keywords: polymer microspheres – hydrophilic surface – immobilisation of proteins – medical diagnostic test

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-011-0122-2

Chemical Papers 66 (5) 352–368 (2012)