Poly(ethylene glycol) grafted polylactide based copolymers for the preparation of PLA-based nanocarriers and hybrid hydrogel

In previous works, poly(D,L-lactide-co-?CL-poly(ethylene glycol) (poly(D,L-La-co-?PEG?CL) amphiphilic graft- 10 copolymers were successfully synthesized according to a copper azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) strategy. This paper aims 11 at reporting on the behavior of this amphiphilic copolymer in water, which was not studied in the previous paper. Moreover, 12 the ability of the copolymer to stabilize a PLA nanoparticles aqueous suspension is presented. For this purpose, dynamic 13 light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are proposed to characterize the nanoparticles in solution. 14 Otherwise, the strategy developed for the synthesis of the amphiphilic copolymers was adapted and extended to the synthesis of 15 PLA-based degradable hydrogel, potentially applicable as drug-loaded degradable polymer implant.