Synthesis of Poly hydroxybutyrate-Polyethylene glycol-Folic acid (PHB-PEG-FOL) nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery

Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is a biodegradable and biocompatibility polyester synthesized by a number of bacteria as a reserve of carbon and energy storage compounds[l]. It has been a new research focus lately for application in drug-delivery systems such as nanoparticles [2]. Folate hasbeen employed as a targeting moiety of various anticancer agents to increase their cellular uptake within targeted cells since folate receptors have been identified as cellular surfacemarkers for cancer [3, 4]. In the present study, we show the synthesis of PHB-PEG-FOL to form nanoparticles as a target drug delivery system. The chemical structure of PHB-PEGFOL was evaluated by FTIR and H1NMR. The morphologicaland average size of NPs was assessed by SEM