Chemistry modification of PMMA-g-PEG copolymer.

Abstract

Copolymers are polymers consisting of different repeat units and their production is usually motivated by the changing of polymers properties. An important application are the transportation of drugs within the organism with the aim of controlling the release of the substance. The synthesis of these new copolymers is based on simple semi-synthesis and low cost. The synthetic routes are based on the interaction of the graft copolymer (PMMA-g-PEG) with a variety of reagents such as acetic anhydride, acetic acid, methyl iodide, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid. The products from these reactions of esterification, methylation, acetylation and halogenation will be characterized by Fourier-transforminfrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The use of this technique allowed us to detect the main absorption bands related to the C¼O bonds, C-Cl, R-COOR and CO, thus confirming the efficiency of modification reactions of the graft copolymer chain.