Abstract

SMART POLYMERS: A SMART APPROACH TO DRUG DELIVERY

*Supriya Shidhaye, Farheen Badshah, Nikhita Prabhu, Priyank Parikh

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive or „smart‟ polymers are macromolecules that display a significant physiochemical change in response to small changes in their environment such as temperature, pH, light, magnetic field, ionic factors, etc. The uniqueness of smart polymers lies in their non-linear response triggered by a very small stimulus. These materials are able to sense a small change (stimulus) in their environment, respond to it, and then return to their original shape/state when the stimulus is removed. This review article focuses on smart polymers that respond to temperature, pH, enzymes, as well as polymers that respond to multiple stimuli.

Keywords: Stimuli-responsive, temperature, pH, intelligent, smart polymers, stimulus, Pluronics carbomers, chitosan, PAA, PNIPAM, LCST, Pluronics®, Poloxamers® Tetronics®, multiple-stimuli responsive polymers.