Development of dual responsive 5-fluorouracil loaded poly( N -vinylcaprolactam) based nanogels for targeted drug delivery applications

Temperature and pH-responsive nanogels based on poly( N -vinylcaprolactam- co -2-dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate) synthesized by using a free radical emulsion polymerization procedure were developed and used for 5-Fluorouracil drug delivery. The formation of nanogel was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. TEM and DLS studies showed that the nanogels were spherical in shape and the average diameter of nanogels was about 100 nm. Further, 5-fluorouracil an anti-cancer drug was encapsulated into these nanogels via equilibrium swelling method. The encapsulation efficiency was dependent on network structure. The temperature/pH-dependent cumulative release properties were investigated for long-term delivery. The nanogels developed can be applied for tumor targeted drug delivery.