Chemotherapy has remained one of the most common and established treatments in the fight against cancer for decades. However, more than 90% of injected chemotherapy drugs are not trapped in targeted organs, resulting in severe toxic side effects for patients. To mitigate these harmful effects, we have developed charged biosponge adsorbers that can selectively bind to toxic ionic chemotherapy drugs. Here, we report the governing transport mechanism of a model chemotherapy drug (doxorubicin) in sulfonated block copolymer membranes with varying degrees of water uptake and ion-exchange capacity (IEC). To accomplish this, we performed a series of drug sorption and desorption experiments to quantify the amounts of free and bound doxorubicin in the membranes. This research provides insight into how polymer structure, water uptake, and ion-exchange capacity can be tuned to establish design principles for next-generation biosponge adsorbers.
