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A facile one step route that introduces functionality to polymer powders for laser sintering (2024)
Journal Article
Krumins, E., Crawford, L. A., Rogers, D. M., Machado, F., Taresco, V., East, M., …Howdle, S. M. (2024). A facile one step route that introduces functionality to polymer powders for laser sintering. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 3137. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47376-4

Laser Sintering (LS) is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) exploiting laser processing of polymeric particles to produce 3D objects. Because of its ease of processability and thermo-physical properties, polyamide-12 (PA-12) represents ~95% of the... Read More about A facile one step route that introduces functionality to polymer powders for laser sintering.

Glycerol- and diglycerol-based polyesters: Evaluation of backbone alterations upon nano-formulation performance (2024)
Journal Article
Axioti, E., Dixon, E. G., Reynolds-Green, M., Alexander, E. C., Brugnoli, B., Keddie, D. J., …Taresco, V. (2024). Glycerol- and diglycerol-based polyesters: Evaluation of backbone alterations upon nano-formulation performance. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 236, Article 113828. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.113828

Despite the success of polyethylene glycol-based (PEGylated) polyesters in the drug delivery and biomedical fields, concerns have arisen regarding PEG's immunogenicity and limited biodegradability. In addition, inherent limitations, including limited... Read More about Glycerol- and diglycerol-based polyesters: Evaluation of backbone alterations upon nano-formulation performance.

Glycerol-based sustainably sourced resin for volumetric printing (2024)
Journal Article
Krumins, E., Lentz, J. C., Sutcliffe, B., Sohaib, A., Jacob, P. L., Brugnoli, B., …Taresco, V. (2024). Glycerol-based sustainably sourced resin for volumetric printing. Green Chemistry, 26(3), 1345-1355. https://doi.org/10.1039/d3gc03607c

Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (VAM) represents a revolutionary advancement in the field of Additive Manufacturing, as it allows for the creation of objects in a single, cohesive process, rather than in a layer-by-layer approach. This innovative t... Read More about Glycerol-based sustainably sourced resin for volumetric printing.

Self-assembled chitosan-sodium usnate drug delivery nanosystems: Synthesis, characterization, stability studies, in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biocompatibility against 143 B cells (2023)
Journal Article
Brugnoli, B., Mariano, A., Simonis, B., Bombelli, C., Sennato, S., Piozzi, A., …Francolini, I. (2023). Self-assembled chitosan-sodium usnate drug delivery nanosystems: Synthesis, characterization, stability studies, in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biocompatibility against 143 B cells. Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications, 6, Article 100373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carpta.2023.100373

Polymers are among the most studied materials as drug carriers, due to their tunable chemical structure and ability to self-assemble to give different types of nanostructures. In this study, chitosan (CS) nanoparticles (NPs) were investigated as carr... Read More about Self-assembled chitosan-sodium usnate drug delivery nanosystems: Synthesis, characterization, stability studies, in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biocompatibility against 143 B cells.

Synthesis of Multifunctional Polymersomes Prepared by Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly (2023)
Journal Article
Phan, H., Cavanagh, R., Jacob, P., Destouches, D., Vacherot, F., Brugnoli, B., …Couturaud, B. (2023). Synthesis of Multifunctional Polymersomes Prepared by Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly. Polymers, 15(14), Article 3070. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15143070

Polymersomes are an exciting modality for drug delivery due to their structural similarity to biological cells and their ability to encapsulate both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. In this regard, the current work aimed to develop multifunctional... Read More about Synthesis of Multifunctional Polymersomes Prepared by Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly.

Poly (diglycerol adipate) variants as enhanced nanocarrier replacements in drug delivery applications (2023)
Journal Article
Jacob, P. L., Brugnoli, B., Del Giudice, A., Phan, H., Chauhan, V. M., Beckett, L., …Taresco, V. (2023). Poly (diglycerol adipate) variants as enhanced nanocarrier replacements in drug delivery applications. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 641, 1043-1057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2023.03.124

Sustainably derived poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA) has been deemed to deliver all the desirable features expected in a polymeric scaffold for drug-delivery, including biodegradability, biocompatibility, self-assembly into nanoparticles (NPs) and a func... Read More about Poly (diglycerol adipate) variants as enhanced nanocarrier replacements in drug delivery applications.

Oxidation of Monoterpenes to Form Diols and Triols: A Versatile Toolbox for Polymer Synthesis (2023)
Journal Article
Fowler, H. R., O'Brien, D. M., Keddie, D. J., Alexander, C., Irvine, D. J., Stockman, R. A., …Taresco, V. (2023). Oxidation of Monoterpenes to Form Diols and Triols: A Versatile Toolbox for Polymer Synthesis. Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 224(8), Article 2200446. https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202200446

Polyols and polyacrylates have a wide range of applications in polymer synthesis as monomers, initiators, or building blocks in a variety of polymerization reaction types. With an ever-growing need to reduce the global dependency on fossil fuels, fin... Read More about Oxidation of Monoterpenes to Form Diols and Triols: A Versatile Toolbox for Polymer Synthesis.

N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide as a functional eROP initiator for the preparation of nanoparticles under “greener” reaction conditions (2022)
Journal Article
Lentz, J. C., Cavanagh, R., Moloney, C., Falcone Pin, B., Kortsen, K., Fowler, H. R., …Howdle, S. M. (2022). N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide as a functional eROP initiator for the preparation of nanoparticles under “greener” reaction conditions. Polymer Chemistry, 13(42), 6032-6045. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2py00849a

N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide was used as a functional initiator for the enzymatic ring-opening polymerisation of ϵ-caprolactone and δ-valerolactone. N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide was found not to undergo self-reaction in the presence of Lipase B from Candid... Read More about N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide as a functional eROP initiator for the preparation of nanoparticles under “greener” reaction conditions.

Antimicrobial ‘inks’ for 3D printing: block copolymer-silver nanoparticle composites synthesised using supercritical CO2 (2022)
Journal Article
Larder, R. R., Krumins, E., Jacob, P. L., Kortsen, K., Cavanagh, R., Jiang, L., …Howdle, S. M. (2022). Antimicrobial ‘inks’ for 3D printing: block copolymer-silver nanoparticle composites synthesised using supercritical CO2. Polymer Chemistry, 13(25), 3768-3779. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2py00398h

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are widely exploited for their effective antimicrobial activity against a range of pathogens. Their high efficacy in this regard has seen the global demand for AgNP in consumer products steadily increase in recent years, n... Read More about Antimicrobial ‘inks’ for 3D printing: block copolymer-silver nanoparticle composites synthesised using supercritical CO2.

Passerini chemistries for synthesis of polymer pro-drug and polymersome drug delivery nanoparticles (2022)
Journal Article
Travanut, A., Monteiro, P. F., Smith, S., Howdle, S. M., Grabowska, A. M., Kellam, B., …Alexander, C. (2022). Passerini chemistries for synthesis of polymer pro-drug and polymersome drug delivery nanoparticles. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 10, 3895-3905. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2tb00045h

New materials chemistries are urgently needed to overcome the limitations of existing biomedical materials in terms of preparation, functionality and versatility, and also in regards to their compatibility with biological environments. Here, we show... Read More about Passerini chemistries for synthesis of polymer pro-drug and polymersome drug delivery nanoparticles.

Synthesis of Passerini-3CR Polymers and Assembly into Cytocompatible Polymersomes (2020)
Journal Article
Travanut, A., Monteiro, P. F., Oelmann, S., Howdle, S. M., Grabowska, A. M., Clarke, P. A., …Alexander, C. (2021). Synthesis of Passerini-3CR Polymers and Assembly into Cytocompatible Polymersomes. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 42(6), Article 2000321. https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.202000321

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH The versatility of the Passerini three component reaction (Passerini-3CR) is herein exploited for the synthesis of an amphiphilic diblock copolymer, which self-assembles into polymersomes. Carboxy-funct... Read More about Synthesis of Passerini-3CR Polymers and Assembly into Cytocompatible Polymersomes.

Synthesis of two-phase polymer particles in supercritical carbon dioxide (2020)
Journal Article
Haddleton, A., Bennett, T. M., Chen, X., Atkinson, R. L., Taresco, V., & Howdle, S. M. (2020). Synthesis of two-phase polymer particles in supercritical carbon dioxide. Polymer Chemistry, 11(31), 5029-5039 . https://doi.org/10.1039/d0py00729c

The synthesis of particles with discrete phases using traditional emulsion polymerisation is a well-established process. Phase-separated particles have a wide range of applications, such as in coatings, drug delivery, impact modification and as suppo... Read More about Synthesis of two-phase polymer particles in supercritical carbon dioxide.

2?Methyltetrahydrofuran (2?MeTHF) as a versatile green solvent for the synthesis of amphiphilic copolymers via ROP, FRP, and RAFT tandem polymerizations (2020)
Journal Article
Englezou, G., Kortsen, K., Pacheco, A. A. C., Cavanagh, R., Lentz, J. C., Krumins, E., …Taresco, V. (2020). 2‐Methyltetrahydrofuran (2‐MeTHF) as a versatile green solvent for the synthesis of amphiphilic copolymers via ROP, FRP, and RAFT tandem polymerizations. Journal of Polymer Science, 58(11), 1571-1581. https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.20200183

2?methyltetrahydrofuran (2?MeTHF) is a readily available, inexpensive, neoteric, bio?based solvent. It has been adopted across a wide range of chemical processes including the batch manufacture of fine chemicals, enzymatic polycondensations and ring... Read More about 2?Methyltetrahydrofuran (2?MeTHF) as a versatile green solvent for the synthesis of amphiphilic copolymers via ROP, FRP, and RAFT tandem polymerizations.

Starch/Poly(glycerol-adipate) Nanocomposites: A Novel Oral Drug Delivery Device (2020)
Journal Article
Vestri, A., Pearce, A. K., Cavanagh, R., Styliari, I. D., Sanders, C., Couturaud, B., …Sagnelli, D. (2020). Starch/Poly(glycerol-adipate) Nanocomposites: A Novel Oral Drug Delivery Device. Coatings, 10(2), Article 125. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10020125

Biocompatible and bio-based materials are an appealing resource for the pharmaceutical industry. Poly(glycerol-adipate) (PGA) is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer that can be used to produce self-assembled nanoparticles (NPs) able to encapsul... Read More about Starch/Poly(glycerol-adipate) Nanocomposites: A Novel Oral Drug Delivery Device.

A ‘greener’ one-pot synthesis of monoterpene-functionalised lactide oligomers (2020)
Journal Article
O'Brien, D. M., Atkinson, R. L., Cavanagh, R., Pacheco, A. A., Larder, R., Kortsen, K., …Taresco, V. (2020). A ‘greener’ one-pot synthesis of monoterpene-functionalised lactide oligomers. European Polymer Journal, 125, 109516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2020.109516

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd In this work we aimed to achieve a totally sustainable Ring Opening Polymerisation (ROP) process, by harmonising the use of naturally occurring or derivable initiators and the green solvent 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF). First... Read More about A ‘greener’ one-pot synthesis of monoterpene-functionalised lactide oligomers.

Clean Block Copolymer Microparticles from Supercritical CO 2 : Universal Templates for the Facile and Scalable Fabrication of Hierarchical Mesostructured Metal Oxides (2018)
Journal Article
Bennett, T. M., He, G., Larder, R. R., Fischer, M. G., Rance, G. A., Fay, M. W., …Howdle, S. M. (2018). Clean Block Copolymer Microparticles from Supercritical CO 2 : Universal Templates for the Facile and Scalable Fabrication of Hierarchical Mesostructured Metal Oxides. Nano Letters, 18(12), 7560-7569. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b03044

© 2018 American Chemical Society. Metal oxide microparticles with well-defined internal mesostructures are promising materials for a variety of different applications, but practical routes to such materials that allow the constituent structural leng... Read More about Clean Block Copolymer Microparticles from Supercritical CO 2 : Universal Templates for the Facile and Scalable Fabrication of Hierarchical Mesostructured Metal Oxides.

Biocompatible unimolecular micelles obtained via the Passerini reaction as versatile nanocarriers for potential medical applications (2018)
Journal Article
Oelmann, S., Travanut, A., Barther, D., Romero, M., Howdle, S. M., Alexander, C., & Meier, M. A. (2019). Biocompatible unimolecular micelles obtained via the Passerini reaction as versatile nanocarriers for potential medical applications. Biomacromolecules, 20(1), 90-101. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.8b00592

A Passerini three-component polymerization was performed for the synthesis of amphiphilic star-shaped block copolymers with hydrophobic cores and hydrophilic coronae. The degree of polymerization of the hydrophobic core was varied from 5 to 10 repeat... Read More about Biocompatible unimolecular micelles obtained via the Passerini reaction as versatile nanocarriers for potential medical applications.

Versatile routes to functional RAFT chain transfer agents through the Passerini multicomponent reaction (2017)
Journal Article
Pearce, A. K., Travanut, A., Couturaud, B., Taresco, V., Howdle, S. M., Alexander, M. R., & Alexander, C. (2017). Versatile routes to functional RAFT chain transfer agents through the Passerini multicomponent reaction. ACS Macro Letters, 6(7), 781-785. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.7b00415

The widespread adoption of RAFT polymerization stems partly from the ease and utility of installing a functional chain transfer agent onto the ends of the generated polymer chains. In parallel, the Passerini multicomponent reaction offers great versa... Read More about Versatile routes to functional RAFT chain transfer agents through the Passerini multicomponent reaction.

Bioreducible cross-linked core polymer micelles enhance in vitro activity of methotrexate in breast cancer cells (2017)
Journal Article
Gulfam, M., Matini, T., Monteiro, P. F., Riva, R., Collins, H., Spriggs, K., …Alexander, C. (2017). Bioreducible cross-linked core polymer micelles enhance in vitro activity of methotrexate in breast cancer cells. Biomaterials Science, 5, https://doi.org/10.1039/c6bm00888g

Polymer micelles have emerged as promising carriers for controlled release applications, however, several limitations of micelle-based drug delivery have also been reported. To address these issues, we have synthesized a functional biodegradable and... Read More about Bioreducible cross-linked core polymer micelles enhance in vitro activity of methotrexate in breast cancer cells.

Amphiphilic block copolymers from a renewable ?-decalactone monomer: prediction and characterization of micellar core effects on drug encapsulation and release (2016)
Journal Article
Kakde, D., Taresco, V., Bansal, K. K., Magennis, E. P., Howdle, S. M., Mantovani, G., …Alexander, C. (in press). Amphiphilic block copolymers from a renewable Ɛ-decalactone monomer: prediction and characterization of micellar core effects on drug encapsulation and release. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 44, https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TB01839D

Here we describe a methoxy poly(ethyleneglycol)-b-poly(ε-decalactone) (mPEG-b-PεDL) copolymer and investigate the potential of the copolymer as a vehicle for solubilisation and sustained release of indomethacin (IND). The indomethacin loading and rel... Read More about Amphiphilic block copolymers from a renewable ?-decalactone monomer: prediction and characterization of micellar core effects on drug encapsulation and release.