Rapid Polymer Conjugation Strategies for the Generation of pH-Responsive, Cancer Targeting, Polymeric Nanoparticles Li, Weishuo Geng, Jin Titmarsh, Helen Megía Fernández, Alicia Dhaliwal, Kev Frame, Margaret Bradley, Mark The combination of controlled living polymerization in association with rapid and highly efficient macromolecule conjugation strategies provides a powerful tool for the synthesis of novel polymeric materials. Here functional block copolymers were rapidly and quantitatively conjugated using an efficient reaction between polymers containing a phenolic group and the 4-phenyl-3H-1,2,4-triazole-3,5(4H)-dione (PTAD) moiety and used to generate nanoparticles that encapsulated drugs. pH responsive amphiphilic block copolymers, which self-assemble into nanoparticles, were fabricated using our novel polymer conjugation strategy with the resulting system designed to promote drug release within the acidic milieu of the cancer microenvironment. The conjugation strategy also enabled the direct tagging of the nanoparticles with a range of fluorophores, targeting assets, or both with cargo release demonstrated in cancer cells. 2024-01-26T08:01:38Z 2024-01-26T08:01:38Z 2018 journal article Biomacromolecules 2018, 19, 7, 2721–2730 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/87326 10.1021/acs.biomac.8b00309 eng embargoed access ACS