Conjugation of Anticancer Drug in Polymeric Nanosystem of Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Methyl Ether Methacrylate Brushes@Polydopamine for Controlled Drug Release

ABSTRACT This work presents the synthesis of a polymeric nanosystem from poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMEMA) brushes anchored on polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA@PEGMEMA) via a surface‐initiated ARGET ATRP technique. The PDA nanoparticle was prepared by polymerizing dopamine in an aqueous buffer solution of tris(hydroxymethyl)methylamine. Then, the surface was modified by lysine to form an effective group on the surface, which can be easily modified with polymers for drug delivery application. Besides that, the behavior of the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) uptake/release loaded in the system PDA@PEGMEMA, which showed a conjugation efficiency of 52%, and its effect on cancer cells have been investigated. The successful synthesis of the system was confirmed by SEM, with a size distribution of 300–400 nm. Poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate was successfully conjugated to the surface of PDA, which was investigated by FTIR, DLS, and XPS. In vitro studies, the prepared nanoparticles exhibit excellent biocompatibility, controlled release, and enhanced DOX therapeutic efficacy to (caco‐2) cell lines, which makes them promising candidates as a drug delivery system for cancer treatment.