Preparation and Characterization of AB2-Type Miktoarm Star-Shaped Nanomaterials Having Lactic Acid as an Arm

Abstract

A series of seven AB2-type hydrophobic miktoarm star polymeric nanomaterials were nanofabricated using coupling-onto approach. These tridentate nano-stars were synthesized using carbodiimide chemistry and characterized using FT-IR, 1H NMR and DLS techniques. Lactic acid is chosen as “arm A” and amino adipic acid as “core”, while seven biodegradable synthetic amides and polyamides as “arm B” were used individually. The diameter of the smallest nano-star LCE was 558.6 nm and largest nano-star LTD was 733.3 nm. The presence of long aliphatic chain in the LDE and LDD as well as presence of aromatic ring in LTE and LTD give them a bigger diameter in comparison to LCE, LLE and LLD. TGA analysis of the product reported a significant loss of 35% by total mass at 400ᵒC, indicating thermal degradation. The products proved to be biodegradable after 15 days of biological treatment. Biodegradation was structurally confirmed by FT-IR analysis of degraded samples.