Tuneable poly(N-Isopropyl acrylamide)-based thermo-responsive nanogels: a review on polymerisation method.

Abstract

In recent years, drug delivery research has gained popularity. Among the most studied area was the development of nanogels for drug carrier application. Advancement in this field has seen nanogels equipped with stimuli-responsive functions upgrading the smart polymers category. Such materials are ideal candidates for drug carrier applications because they respond well to the external environment, and this unique property can be manipulated to adjust their release profile, enabling high-efficiency drug transportation. Usually, this class of materials is designed to react towards temperature and pH, where a drastic change in one or both stimuli may set a trigger condition for therapeutic agent release. This paper focuses on temperature-responsive nanogels, where most products depend on a mixture of temperature-sensitive monomers or polymers. To date, perhaps the most studied temperature-sensitive monomer or polymer is poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAAm). Therefore, most temperature-responsive nanogels rely on PNIPAAm. This paper reviews various polymerisation methods of temperature-responsive nanogels and their recent advances in drug delivery applications.