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Smart poly(acrylic acid) for anticancer drug delivery A.R. Maniego1,2, E.G. Whitty1,2, D.J. Keddie3, C.M. Fellows3, Y. Guillaneuf4, M. Gaborieau2, P. Castignolles1,e 1University of Western Sydney (UWS), Australian Centre for Research on Separation Sciences (ACROSS), School of Science and Health (SSH), Parramatta, 2150, Australia; 2UWS, Molecular Medicine Research Group (MMRG), SSH, Parramatta, 2150, Australia; 3 University of New England (UNE), Armidale, 2351, Australia 4 Aix-Marseille University (AMU), Marseille, 13397, France e: [email protected] Poly(acrylic acid), PAA, is a pH-responsive polymer, so it falls in the category of polymers sensitive to changes in their environment and described as “smart” (Fig. 1). Figure 1: Molecular structure of pH-responsive PAA. It is an important superabsorbent material, widely used in the industry for example for nappies. Its synthesis by radical polymerisation is straightforward, but it leads to a complex branched macromolecular structure, with short branches and long branches. While the branching makes PAA characterisation challenging, it makes it a good candidate for anticancer drug delivery. Branching can be used to tune the pKa, which falls in the range of pH observed in tumours and branching can also be used to prevent the drug to leak from the carrier before its delivery in the tumour. We have shown that capillary electrophoresis in the critical conditions (Fig. 2) and NMR spectroscopy are highly complementary to characterize the branched structure.[1] The methods also proved rapid and accurate to monitor drug biding to the PAA. Figure 2: CE of branched PAAs [1]. The authors thank Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright (UWS), Dr Catherine Lefay (AMU), Dr Dider Gigmes (AMU) for fruitful discussions and Daniel Le. References [1] A Maniego, D Ang, Y Guillaneuf, C Lefay, D Gigmes, J Aldrich-Wright, M Gaborieau, P Castignolles, Separation of poly(acrylic acid) salts according to topology using capillary electrophoresis in the critical conditions. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2013, 405, 9009.