Synthesis of poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) based nanoparticles for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.

The performance of polymeric nanomaterials relies greatly upon their properties which are intimately related to the methods of fabrication of the materials. Among various synthetic polymers, the polymers of 2-hydroxyetyhyl methacrylate (PHEMA) maintain a prime position in biomedical field due to their useful physicochemical properties and suitability for controlled drug delivery applications. Here we focus on three methods of preparation of PHEMA nanoparticles, by suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization and dispersion polymerization without the use of any surfactants.