# Designing a green poly(β-amino ester) for the delivery of nicotinamide drugs with biological activities and conducting a DFT investigation

## TL;DR

A green polymer was designed to deliver nicotinamide drugs, showing controlled release and antimicrobial/anticancer effects.

## Contribution

A solvent-free, microwave-assisted method to synthesize PβAE for drug delivery with DFT-based optimization.

## Key findings

- PβAE showed controlled release of nicotinamide drugs over 10 days in PBS.
- The polymer exhibited antimicrobial and anticancer activity against MCF-7 cells.
- Spectroscopic and DFT analysis confirmed successful drug-polymer interactions.

## Abstract

The environmentally friendly polymerization process was carried out using microwave irradiation without additional solvents or catalysts to produce poly(β-amino ester) (PβAE) which served as a drug delivery system. PβAE was synthesized through Michael addition polymerization of 1,4-butane diol diacrylate and piperazine. Swelling and biodegradation studies were conducted in various solvents and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) at 37 °C to evaluate the properties of the polymeric gel. The PβAE matrix demonstrated solubility enhancement for hydrophobic antimicrobial and antitumor-active nicotinamide derivatives (TEINH, APTAT, and MOAPM), controlling their release over 10 days in (PBS). The successful formation of free and loaded PβAE with nicotinamide active materials was confirmed by spectroscopic analysis including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Optimization and physical descriptor determination via the DFT/B3LYP-631(G) basis set were performed to aid in the biological evaluation of these compounds with elucidation of their physical and chemical interaction between poly(β-amino ester) and nicotinamide drugs.

Poly(β-amino ester) was synthesized through addition polymerization under microwave irradiation, demonstrating antimicrobial and anticancer activities against MCF-7 tumor cells, along with an impressive ability to prevent drug leakage.