Design and synthesis of gold-loaded micelles based on poly (ethylene glycol) and poly (4-vinyl pyridine) triblock copolymers for biomedical applications

Gold-loaded micelles were prepared using triblock copolymers based on poly (ethylene glycol) and poly (4-vinyl pyridine) (P4VP-b-PEG-b-P4VP) obtained via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). This was achieved using novel dichloro-terminated PEG as a macroinitiator. Further, ATRP was performed using 4-VP as a second forming block in the presence of CuCl/PMDETA as a catalyst system. The successful formation of P4VP-b-PEG-b-P4VP block copolymers was proved by FT-IR and ¹H NMR with the presence of all characteristic signals arising from PEG and 4-VP units. The self-assembling behavior of thus prepared block copolymer in an aqueous media was investigated. Further, gold nanoparticles were embedded into the P4VP core of the micelles. Cell viability of the gold-loaded micelles was proven by MTT test as they showed no cytotoxicity on cancerous and non-cancerous cells.