Synthesis of PET‐PLA/Drug Nanoparticles and Their Effect with Gold Nanoparticles for Controlled Drug Release in Cancer Chemotherapy

Abstract

Polyethylene terephthalate‐polylactic acid copolymer (PET‐PLA) was synthesized from bis (2‐hydroxyethyl terephthalate) and L‐lactic acid oligomer in the presence of manganese antimony glycoxide as a catalyst. The synthesized PET‐PLA copolymer was used for controlled drug release systems with gold nanoparticles. Fluorouracil containing PET‐PLA nanocapsules was prepared in the presence of gold nanoparticles by solvent evaporation method. The morphologies of the nanocapsules were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Controlled release of Fu and Fu@Au was carried out in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) and 0.1 M HCl solution. The results indicated that the drug release for gold nanoparticles/fluorouracil (Au@Fu) incorporated PET‐PLA nanocapsules was controlled and slow compared to Fu incorporated PET‐PLA nanocapsules. This may be due to the interaction between the gold nanoparticles and fluorouracil in PET‐PLA nanocapsules.