Design and fabrication of dual responsive lignin-based nanogel via “grafting from” atom transfer radical polymerization for curcumin loading and release

The story of human dreams about curing all diseases, disorders and lesions is as old as human history. In the frontier of medical science, nanomedicine is trying to solve the problem. In this study, inspired by nanotechnology and using “grafting from” approach, a novel lignin-based nanogel was synthesized using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and N,N-dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate (DMAEMA) comonomers were graft copolymerized from fully brominated lignin as ATRP macroinitiator to synthesize lignin-g-P(NIPAM-co-DMAEMA) nanogel (LNDNG). By controlling the initial comonomer compositions and ATRP conditions, four LNDNG systems with different lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs) of 32, 34, 37 and 42 °C were prepared. The LNDNGs were evaluated by GPC, FT-IR, (1)H NMR, UV–Vis, DLS, SEM and TEM analyses. The prepared nanogels exhibited an average diameter of 150 nm with dual temperature and pH responsiveness. Curcumin (CUR) loading capacity and encapsulation efficiency of the LNDNGs were 49.69% and 92.62% on average, respectively. The cumulative release amount of loaded CUR was observed to be 65.36% after 72 h. The new lignin-based NGs proposed in the present work seems to be a promising, safe and comparable system in a near future.