Amphiphilic hot-melt pressure sensitive adhesives for transdermal administration made from low melt-processing temperature OSISO copolymers

Herein, an anionic polymerization method was employed to synthesize a series of amphiphilic poly(ethylene oxide-b-styrene-b-isoprene-b-styrene-b-ethylene oxide) penta-block copolymers (OSISO). Their molecular structure and properties were comprehensively characterized using GPC,1H-NMR, thermodynamic rheological testing and water contact angle test. Notably, the hydrophilic characteristics exhibited a proportional increase with the rise in poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) content, ranging from 1.3 to 12.6 wt%. The polystyrene blocks with low number-average molecular weight (2000–3500) reduced the copolymer melt viscosity, surpassing a tenfold decrease than the control sample within the temperature range of 50–150 °C. Resultantly, this series of OSISO copolymers could be used to develop amphiphilic hot-melt pressure-sensitive adhesives (HMPSAs) by low temperature hot-melt processing method (<120 °C). HMPSAs loaded with 2 wt% of geniposide, prepared by an optimized composition formula of OSISO copolymers, tackifiers, and plasticizers (in a ratio of 5:5:2), displayed excellent in vitro drug release performance. Additionally, these adhesives presented impressive 180° peeling strength (0.05–0.14 kN/m) without residues left on the substrate in the 180° peeling tests. The incorporation of PEO block significantly enhanced both the adhesive properties and accumulative drug release. Geniposide showed a burst release behavior with a moderate accumulative drug release (15–30 wt%), attributed to the PEO phase without crystallization behavior of long PEO chains.