# Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymers of Poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) and Poly(vinyl esters) Bearing N-Alkyl Side Chains for the Encapsulation of Curcumin and Indomethacin

## TL;DR

This paper studies how certain polymers self-assemble in water and can effectively encapsulate drugs like curcumin and indomethacin.

## Contribution

The study introduces new amphiphilic diblock copolymers with tailored hydrophobic blocks for efficient drug encapsulation.

## Key findings

- The polymers self-assemble into stable micellar structures in aqueous solutions.
- Both curcumin and indomethacin were encapsulated with high efficiency in the micelles.
- The drug-loading capacity and efficiency were found to be nearly quantitative in several cases.

## Abstract

Τhe self-assembly behavior of a series of amphiphilic diblock copolymers, each consisting of a hydrophilic poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PNVP) block and a hydrophobic block derived from n-alkyl vinyl esters, namely poly(vinyl butyrate) (PVBu), poly(vinyl decanoate) (PVDc), and poly(vinyl stearate) (PVSt), in aqueous solutions was investigated. Dynamic and static light scattering (DLS and SLS) techniques were employed to monitor the micellization behavior. In addition, the self-assembled structures were observed with Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The effect of the nature of the hydrophobic block, the copolymer composition and the copolymer molecular weight on the self-assembly properties was thoroughly examined. The encapsulation of curcumin and indomethacin within the dry cores of the micellar structures was conducted in aqueous solutions for all block copolymers at various curcumin/indomethacin-to-polymer mass ratios. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to evaluate the drug-loading capacity and efficiency (%DLC and %DLE). In several cases, the encapsulation of both hydrophobic drugs was found to be nearly quantitative. Combined with the observed stability of the micellar structures, these findings suggest that the block copolymers demonstrate significant potential as carriers for drug delivery applications.