Evaluation of in vitro cytotoxicity of superparamagnetic poly(thioether-ester) nanoparticles on erythrocytes, non-tumor (NIH3T3), tumor (HeLa) cells and hyperthermia studies.

Magnetic nanoparticles encapsulated in biocompatible and biodegradable polymeric matrices are promising materials for biomedical applications, such as transport of antitumoral drugs and cancer treatment by hyperthermia. In this study, biobased poly(thioether-ester), PTEe, was obtained by thiol-ene polymerization and superparamagnetic nanoparticles, MNPs, were successfully incorporated in PTEe nanoparticles by miniemulsification followed by solvent evaporation. MNPs-PTEe nanoparticles with average diameter around 150 nm presented superparamagnetic behavior as confirmed by magnetization curves analysis.

Stoichiometric molecularly imprinted polymers for the recognition of anti-cancer pro-drug tegafur.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) targeting tegafur, an anti-cancer 5-fluorouracil pro-drug, have been prepared by stoichiometric imprinting using 2,6-bis(acrylamido)pyridine (BAAPy) as the functional monomer. Solution association between tegafur and BAAPy was studied by (1)H NMR titration, which confirmed the formation of 1:1 complexes with an affinity constant of 574±15M(-1) in CDCl3. Evaluation of the synthesised materials by HPLC and equilibrium rebinding experiments revealed high selectivity of the imprinted polymer for the pro-drug vs.