FLUORINATED HYPERBRANCHED POLYGLYCEROL POLYMERS AND CORRESPONDING NANOPARTICLES AND ENCAPSULANTS

Described herein are fluorinated hyper-branched polyglycerol ("HPG") polymers and corresponding synthesis methods. Also described herein are fluorinated HPG nanoparticles, drug encapsulated fluorinated HPG nanoparticles, and corresponding dispersions. Relative to corresponding non-fluorinated HPG polymers, the fluorinated HPG have desirable 19F nuclear magnetic resonance ("MR") activities for use as 19F magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI") probes. Furthermore, because the fluorinated HPG nanoparticles include, by definition, fluorine, drug loading and encapsulation efficiency is also significantly increased for fluorine containing drugs, relative to corresponding non-fluorinated HPG nanoparticles.