Synthesis and Characterization of PEG-PTX

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) pre-polymer (SYLGARD™ 184) was purchased from Dow (Midland, MI, USA); 97% Trichloro (1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyl) silane (FOTS) was purchased from J&K Scientific (Beijing, China); 99.99% Tetrahydrofuran (THF) and 99.8% dimethylformamide (DMF) were purchased from Merck (Rahway, NJ, USA); 99.5% Paclitaxel was purchased from Xi’an Haoxuan Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Xi’an, China). PEGylated (methoxypolyethylene glycol 2000) paclitaxel (PEG-PTX) was synthesized according to the previous literature [25 (link),26 (link),31 (link)]. Tubulin-tracker green and thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays were purchased from Beyotime (Nantong, China).