Synthesis of Gold Nanorods /[PHEMA-b-PVEA] Nanocomposite and Investigation of Drug

Theranostic nanoparticles with multifunctional ability have been emerging as a new platform for biomedical applications such as imaging, sensing and drug delivery. Despite gold nanorods (GNRs) being an excellent nanosource with multifunctional versatility, they have certain limitations in biomedical applications, which include surfactant toxicity, biological stability and controlled drug release kinetics. Hence, we fabricated thiol-end caped diblock copolymer [poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-b- poly[(N-4-vinylbenzyl),N,N-diethylamine)]; [PHEMA-b-PVEA] encapsulated gold nanorods (GNRs) via RAFT polymerization techniques. The nanocomposites formed were named GNRs@polymer. Furthermore, the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was encapsulated into the GNRs@ polymer by the electrostatic force. pH responsive drug release ability of the synthesized biocompatible nanocomposite were also investigated .Also the success of coating was verified by fourier transform infrared (FTIR), zeta potential, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopies , gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis and UV-vis spectroscopy.

RAFT polymerization, Gold nanorods, Anti-cancer drug doxorubicin