A new multifunctional polymer: Synthesis and characterization of mPEG-b-PAA-grafted chitosan copolymer

A new multifunctional mPEG-b-PAA-grafted chitosan copolymer possessing amino and carboxyl groups, mPEG-b-PAA-g-CHI (compound 6), was designed for a potential application in gene/drug delivery and synthesized by the methods of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and grafting reaction of a biodegradable chitosan (CHI) derivative. Completion of the reactions and characterization of the resulting compounds were demonstrated by ¹H NMR, FTIR and gel permeation chtomatography (GPC) studies. The results show that the molar ratio of amino groups to carboxyl groups in the copolymer (compound 6) is 0.41:0.59.