Synthesis of pH-responsive triazine skeleton nano-polymer composite containing AIE group for drug delivery

Abstract

We exploited a unique porous structure of the nano-covalent triazine polymer (NCTP) containing aggregation-induced emission (AIE) group to achieve controlled release and drug tracking in tumor acidic microenvironment. NCTP was synthesized by the Friedel–Crafts alkylation and the McMurry coupling reaction. It not only had strong doxorubicin (DOX)-loading capacity due to its high specific surface area and large pore volume, but also showed the significant cumulative drug release as a result of the pH response of triazine polymers. NCTP was induced luminescence after mass accumulation near tumor cells. Besides, it had excellent biocompatibility and obvious antineoplastic toxicity. The results demonstrate that NCTP as a utility-type drug carrier provides a new route for designing the multi-functional drug delivery platform.

Keywords

triazine skeleton structure / pH response / aggregation-induced emission / drug delivery

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Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Corps Division Development and Innovation Support Program (2017BA041), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21866028 and 51662036), the Engineering Research Center of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bintuan (2016BTRC008 and 2016BTRC005) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shihezi University (ZZZC201922A).

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