Polymers Flashcards
what’s a polymer? poly + mer
Chain of repeating units: each repeating unit is a monomer (natural/synthetic)
what is meant by degree of polymerisation?
number of monomer units in a polymer
whats a dimer?
2 monomer long polymer
whats an oligomer?
(in between region. Have long chain but not sure hm units): tetramer < oligomer < polymer
how is polymer written, with degree of polymerisation?
(monomer)n degree of polymerisation as subscript. Brackets important
name a natural polymer produced in body, therapeutic agent
heparin
whats the monomer of polymers DNA, RNA?
nucleic acid
proteins are polymer sof…
amino acids.
Don’t always know hm. Removing one doesn’t affect whole behaviour but 3D structure: have size and shape and colloidal structure
polymers: application in formulation
suspending agents
semi solids
mucoadhesion
MR
tablet manufacture
plasticisers, solvents
capsule shell
emulsifiers
polymers used in formulation as suspending agents… what do they enhance?
and give examples of some used
viscosity enhancers
- polysaccharides: acacia, tragacanth, alginates, starch
- celluloses
when may polymers be used in tablet manufacture?
o Disintegrants and binders (starch, cellulose and derivatives, PEG, PVP)
o Coating (cellulose, methacrylate derivatives)
other than in formualtion, what else are polymers used for?3
packaging (plastics, rubber, apper cellulose)
adhesives (transdermal patches)
tubing
and more!
polymers as therapeutic agents: name 3 applications
sodium polystyrene sulfonate (Resonium A)
poly(ethylene glycol) (Movicol)
artifical tears
what is sodium polystyrene sulfonte (resonium A), an ion exchange resin, used in the treatment of?
hyperkalaemia
sodium polystyrene sulfonte (resonium A) administration route?
oral/ rectal
what can the high molecular weight polymer known as polyethylene glycol/ movicol be used to treat?
constipation as hydrophilic polymer, attract water, soften stool 😊
what is meant by linear polymer in terms of morphology?
no branching, straight line of Cs with no modifications along the line
what is meant by homopolymer?
chain composed of a single monomer
give one example of a polymer that is both a linear polymer and a homopolymer?
polyethylene glycol
what is meant by copolymer?
chain composed of 2+ monomers
3 types of copolymers?
statistic: poly(A-co-B)
alternating: (A-alt-B)
block: poly(A)-block-poly(B)
what is meant statistic poly (A CO b)?
random arrangement, 2 monomers have the same reactivity
(co: copolymer)
what is meant by poly (a alt b)?
organised in particular alternating order
not random. ababababababab
what is meant by poly (A) block poly (B)?
polymer a attached to polymer b such as in the case of polymeric micelles
as want hydrophobic region attached to hydrophilic
clear regions/blocks
Non-linear/ branched morphologies of polymers?
Graft
comb
Star-shaped
graft copolymers or comb polymers are an example of non linear or branched morphologies and follows rhe backbone of a comb structure. whats the difference?
graft: polymers diff sides
comb: polymer branching same side
what type of polymer would a poly (A) graft poly (B) be?
graft
how do star shaped polymers (star poly (A) or star poly (A co B) or star poly (A) block poly (B) look?
one centre (initiator) with many arms coming from it
dendrimers are a specific type of polymer that have a naturally spherical shape due to the shape of the branches and is hard to get perfect without any structural defects. the MORE you expand are you MORE/ LESS likely to introduce defects?
more
sometimes the functions on a dendrimer may not all react, when/why?
when too close together, not accessible
dendrimers are similar to what type of polymer and how?
Same as star, start with max functions initiator. E.g. 3 then monomer, each functions modified. From 3 -> 6 functions. 1st generation (grown out of initiator)
dendrimers are attractive for drug delivery because?
every functional group on surface can be used to conjugate drugs- chemically attract to dendrimer structure
why might drug loading be hard in a dendrimer?
not much space and not every function may be able to accomodate a drug if it interacts with water or is ionised
the risk of dendrimers not having many available chemical functions or breaking down during synthesis means it is challenging to use as?
DDS
elemental analysis and NMR can be used to confirm what about a polymer?
composition/structure
would the addition of PEG in a polymer make it part of the hydrophilic or hydrophobic portion?
hydrophilic, as it hides the hydrophobic matrix
Same for liposomes… (PEG) put on surface to hide lipids and body doesn’t see hydrophobic stuff as doesn’t like it and tries to remove it as bacteria and viruses have it… signals saying its dangerous and attack.
- Most nanomeds are hydrophobic so if want to inject in body, have to mask hydrophobicity, usually with PEG
- Attaching/ coating with PEG (PEGylation) decrease risk of
…
immune system recognising particle
what type of chromatography can be used for molecular weight determination for polymers ?
size exclusion/ gel permeation (SEC or GPC)
For SEC/GPC what considerations must be made for solvent selection?
must dissolve sample, no incompatibilities, no interference with sample, not corrosive
for SEC/GPC what does the column depend on?
solvent, sample and adequate for mw range
outline how SEC/GPC works?
sample injected, size separation, large solutes, small solutes eluted as they go into all nooks etc
star shaped polymers are constrained and cannot expand or contract as much. if using linear standards to study a star shaped polymer what effects might this have on your results?
results invalid as GPC wont account for this
in SEC/GPC, which polymer chain sizes go furthest and which stay behind?
Smaller polymer chains stay behind as theyre exploring and going into nooks and crannies
Larger polymer chains: elute faster. Detected first in GPC spectrograms (first, big curve C)
MW data analysis of polymers, how is this done/ results obtained?
Calibration relative to monodisperse standards of known MW
* Elution times compared to a standard curve
* Standard curve used to analyse similar polymers with known MW then look at signal and retention times get for unknown sample and compare to known curve
* Separation based on dimensions not affinity
star shaped polymers are essentially constrained and cannot expand or contract as much. if using linear standards to study a star shaped polymer what effects might this have on your results?
results invalid as GPC wont account for this
why must you select mobile phase carefully when characterising?
- Conditions really important could be looking at same polymer but different results depending on morphology of polymer OR mobile phase used
wrong solvent may –> no results
Polymers MW determination….
polymers are rarely monodisperse meaning that there will be mixture of molecular weights due to different chain lengths.
how is MW therefore given?
as an average
what is meant by Mn?
number average molecular weight
what is meant by Mw?
weight average molecular weight
As well as Nm, MW can be given in terms of weight average (Mw). What does this account for?
increased contribution of larger molecules to the overall total weight
formula for PI? polydispersity index
Pi= Mw / Mn
what is meant by polydispersity index?
width of MW distribution
if the gap between mw and mn is narrow, will polydispersity be higher or lower?
difference is smaller, values closer to each other, Pi smaller
what will higher Pi look like on the MW distribution graph?
narrower peak, to the right
Polymer characterisation- thermal properties…
how are they measured?
using Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
what does DSC tell us?
crystallinity of polymers
3 types of crystallisation a polymer can be/have?
amorphous
semi crystalline
crystalline
what is meant by amorphous?
lack of rigid organised network
what is meant by crystalline?
very structured network
most polymer chains are either amorphous or semi crystalline, true or false?
true
what is meant by differential?
comparison between sample and reference
what is meant by scanning?
study at a range of temperatures cooling and heating
what is meant by calorimetry?
measuring the amount of heat required to keep reference and sample at the same temperature
in DSC, when Reference going through different transitions: some will be….
- no change in heat capacity
- exothermic
- endothermic
what type of diagram shows heat flow on the y axis and temperature on the x axis that can show different transitions that can be observed?
thermogram
polymer characterisation: DSC output of method of analysis- results shown on a?
thermogram
how many different transitions are there on a thermogram? name them
3:
Tg
Tc
Tm
what is the first transition on the thermogram?
Tg glass transition temperature
which transition has no change in heat capacity but instead a change in the baseline? There is no exchange of heat therefore it cannot be said to be exo or endothermic.
phase 1 : Tg
In Tg polymer chains are reorganised, what effect does this have in the polymers?
polymer goes from hard brittle material to soft and pliable material so increase in flexibility of chains
TRUE OR FALSE: Tg can be detected for amorphous and semi crystalline polymers? only
true
would a perfectly crystalline structure show Tg in its thermogram?
no
once chains have regained flexibility they can organise themselves into an organised network. What transition is this?
2: Tc
what parameter must be present in order to see Tc on a thermogram?
some degree of crystallinity
Tc can be observed for which 2 types of polymers?
semi crystalline and crystalline
crystallisation is exothermic so it will release heat, therefore it the amount of heat that the sample requires to keep it the same as the reference higher or lower?
lower
why there is a trough around Tc in a thermogram?
sample releases heat during crystallisation to amount of heat supplied to sample must be lower to be kept at the same temperature as the reference
Tm (melting) is the destruction of the crystalline network which happens at a temperature above the temperature for crystallisation. This can be observed for which types of polymers?
crystalline and semi crystalline
melting is an endothermic process which means that it absorbs heat therefore will more or less heat need to be provided to the sample to ensure that it is kept at the same temperature as the reference?
more
why is a peak seen around Tm on thermogram?
providing extra heat to sample to keep it at the same temperature as the reference
Polymers as DDS (polymer drug conjugates)…
4 diff polymers in nanomedicine?
water soluble polymer drug conjugates
polymeric micelles
polymer nanoparticles + nanocapsules
polymeric vesicles
what type of polymer drug conjugate may be used to deliver poorly water soluble drugs?
water soluble polymer drug conjugates
i.e. just attach drugs to hydrophilic water soluble backbone
Polymeric micelles: Core-shell structures similar to surfactant micelles, obtained from what?
amphiphilic (typically block) copolymers or star-shaped
Polymeric nanoparticles: solid matrix polymer particles made up of…
- Hydrophobic polymer matrix for hydrophobic AND hydrophilic drugs
what are polymer nanocapusles?
mono layer membrane surrounding aq liquid core
Polymeric vesicles are similar to with liposomes how?
Like liposome where liquid core. Can be oil or water (with liposomes. restricted)
But here depends on properties of polymer using
wha tdo polymersomes (polymeric equivalent of liposomes) consist of and made of?
Aqueous core surrounding by hydrophobic polymeric shell (bilayer)
made using amphiphilic copolymers
with DDS, drug is hidden in nanoparticle then after admin, what happens depends fully on?
DDS. Control kinetics of dosage form
give some properties of an ideal drug carrier/ DDS?
inert,
non toxic,
slow clearance,
high loading,
targeted,
active,
stable,
release
why do we do nanomedicine?
want to make pk such as elimination abs etc independent of physio chemical properties of the drug
polymer drug conjugates have a water soluble backbone. if a linear one is used it is limited to the addition of only x drugs?
2
why do we need the backbone to be water soluble?
improve aq solubility for drugs like anti cancer drugs that are poorly water soluble
what type of polymer often used as main backbone w chains in case of polymer drug conjugates?
GRAFT
main backbone with chains. Can each be used to attach drug/ attach probe for imagine (diagnostic purposes)
what type of polymer often used as main backbone w chains in case of polymer drug conjugates?
GRAFT
main backbone with chains. Can each be used to attach drug/ attach probe for imagine (diagnostic purposes)
what does drug conjugation on polymers/ water soluble backbone allow?
controlled (site specific) delivery
why is it important to have a backbone with modifiable chemical functions?
cooh and amino functions allow modification to allow a new bond with a drug or imaging agent
why is it important to have a backbone with modifiable chemical functions?
cooh and amino functions allow modification to allow a new bond with a drug or imaging agent
the backbone can have a targeting moiety, waht is the rationale behind this?
goes to specific cell or tissue, increased specificity, reduced adverse effects
the backbone can have a targeting moiety, waht is the rationale behind this?
goes to specific cell or tissue, increased specificity, reduced adverse effects
do polymer drug conjugates have high or low mw ?
high
do polymer drug conjugates have high or low mw ?
high