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Controlled drug binding and release stand among top requirements postulated for targeted drug delivery systems of the new generations. "Smart" polymers and gels are highly suitable for the controlled delivery due to their structural sensitivity to minor environmental variations. The aim of this work was to study thermoresponsive polyanionic and polycationic hydrogels of N-isopropylacrylamide copolymers with acrylic acid and N-aminopropylmethacrylamide in terms of their interaction with two widely used drugs, propranolol and ibuprofen. Binding energetics of these drugs by the gels in swollen and collapsed state was estimated by means of high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry. Thermodynamic parameters of the gel collapse (transition temperature, enthalpy, heat capacity increment, and width) were determined as a dependence of the drug concentrations. From these data the excess free energy of collapse was calculated as a function of drug concentration. Deconvolution of this function resulted in the evaluation of binding parameters and contributions from interactions of various types to the free energy of binding. The binding mechanism of both drugs to the swollen and collapsed gels was elucidated. Its main features are the cooperative character of the drug binding by the collapsed gel and the predominant role of the hydrophobicity of drugs in their affinity for the swollen gel.

Interpolyelectrolyte complexes of lysozyme with thermosensitive N-isopropylacrylamide-sodium sulfonated styrene copolymers of different charge density were investigated by high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry (HS-DSC) at pH 4.6-7.2 and low ionic strength. A general property of the complexes for all copolymers investigated was a decrease in the conformational stability of the bound protein. This suggested the preferential binding of the unfolded protein to the polymer matrix. The isotherms of lysozyme binding to the copolymers were derived from the HS-DSC data. They indicate that the binding is irreversible and charge stoichiometric.