Aliphatic polyphosphates: a promising family of polymers for drug delivery

Thanks to their biocompatibility and biodegradability, polyphosphates are appealing polymers for biomedical applications. In contrast to polyesters, polyphosphate properties and functionality are easily tuned via the chemical nature of the lateral chains.

In this work, a series of amphiphilic PEO-block-polyphosphate copolymers were synthesized by organo-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of cyclic phosphates. These polymers are directly dissolved in water in the absence of any organic solvent and they self-assemble to form nanoparticles Our work aims at changing the lateral chain of polyphosphates to investigate the influence of this structural modification on (i) the size of the nanoparticles, (ii) the critical aggregation concentration, (iii) the encapsulation of an hydrophobic drug in the core of the nanoparticles and, finally, (iv) the release of the drug.