A Facile Synthesis of Itaconic Acid Based Biodegradable Co-polyesters: An In-Vitro Anticancer Evaluation and Controlled Drug Delivery System

A series of aliphatic co-polyesters were prepared via one-step polycondensation reaction of itaconic acid, 1,4-cyclohexane dimethanol and diols using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) as a catalyst. The chemical structure of the repeating units present in the polymer chains were confirmed by FTIR, 1 H and 13 C NMR spectral data. The glass transition temperature (T g ), melting temperature (T m ) and decomposition temperature (T d ) of the co-polyesters were evaluated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The biodegradability of the synthesized co-polyesters would be qualitatively studied by hydrolytic degradation at different pH followed by studying the change in surface morphology of the co-polyesters before and after degradation using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images and the extent of crystallinity would also be studied using wide angle X-ray Diffraction (W-XRD) data. In-vitro anticancer activity of the synthesized co-polyesters were tested against human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines, all the co-polyesters show good IC 50 value at lower concentration but among them PICMCD [Poly (1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol itaconate -co- 1,4-cyclohexane diol itaconate)] has higher toxicity on MCF-7 cells. The drug delivery property of the co-polyesters would be investigated on tamoxifen citrate using spray down tablet coating process and PICMCD found to be a potential drug carrier. Graphic Abstract