Hydrophobic segments biodegradable

Recently, many studies have focused on self-assembled biodegradable nanoparticles for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. Nanoparticles fabricated by the self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers or hydrophobically modified polymers have been explored as drug carrier systems. In general, these amphiphilic copolymers consisting of hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments are capable of forming polymeric structures in aqueous solutions via hydrophobic interactions. These self-assembled nanoparticles are composed of an inner core of hydrophobic moieties and an outer shell of hydrophilic groups [35, 36]. 

A biodegradable copolymer has been described that consists of an amphiphilic diblock copolymer, of a hydrophilic segment and a hydrophobic segment (8). 

PBLG), and poly(N-hexyl stearate L-aspartamide), and non-biodegradable hydrophobic polymers like poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) and poly(vinyl) derivatives. The hydrophobic segment can be inert or can possess reactive groups for postfunctionalization. A special group of micelles can finally be obtained from lipid conjugates such as PEG-phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PEG-PE). ... 

An auspicious new strategy, in order to perform biocatalysis with hydrophobic substrates in w/o-microemulsion, is the usage of whole cells instead of purified enzymes [3,124,141]. There exist only a few surfactant-oil systems, in which whole cells are stable and suitable for a segmentation. Mainly the biodegradable surfactant based on sorbitan (Tween and Span) seems to be well suited for the solubilisation of whole cells in organic reaction media [142,143]. 

It is seen from Table 4.1 that while a relatively limited selection of hydrophilic segments is available, a host of hydrophobic polymers can be used as core-forming segments. These include biodegradable polymers such as poly- (D,L-lactide) (PDLLA), poly(e-caprolactone) poly(7-benzyl-L-glutamate)... 

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