Polyanhydrides microstructure

The past two decades have produced a revival of interest in the synthesis of polyanhydrides for biomedical applications. These materials offer a unique combination of properties that includes hydrolytically labile backbone, hydrophobic bulk, and very flexible chemistry that can be combined with other functional groups to develop polymers with novel physical and chemical properties. This combination of properties leads to erosion kinetics that is primarily surface eroding and offers the potential to stabilize macromolecular drugs and extend release profiles from days to years. The microstructural characteristics and inhomogeneities of multi-component systems offer an additional dimension of drug release kinetics that can be exploited to tailor drug release profiles. 

Goepferich, A. Langer, R. The influence of microstructure and monomer properties on the erosion mechanism of a class of polyanhydrides. J. Polym. Sci. A Polym. Chem. 1993, 31, 2445-2458. 

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