Thermosensitive star polymer pompons with a core-arm structure as thermo-responsive controlled release drug carriers.

In contrast with traditional chemotherapy, controlled drug delivery systems provide many advantages. Herein, a thermosensitive star polymer pompon with a core-arm structure was synthesized using a grafting-on method as a thermo-responsive controlled release drug carrier. Single-chain cyclized/knotted poly tetra(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (polyTEGDA) was used as the hydrophobic core, and thermosensitive linear poly(-isopropylacrylamide--methylolacrylamide) (poly(NIPAM--NMA)) was selected as the hydrophilic arm.