3D-printing of the polymer/insect-repellent system poly (l-lactic acid)/ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate (PLLA/IR3535)

Du, F., et al. Int. J. Pharmaceutics, 2022, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2022.122023   

The polymer/solvent system poly (l-lactic acid)/ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate (PLLA/IR3535) is regarded as an insect-repellent-delivery system, serving, e.g., for fighting mosquito-borne tropical diseases. In this work, samples of the polymer/repellent system PLLA/IR3535 were prepared by 3D-printing. The experiments showed that it is possible to print 3D-parts containing up to 25 m% repellent, with an only minor loss of repellent during the printing process. The study successfully proved the applicability of the technology of extrusion-based 3D-printing for the preparation of polymer parts with a specific shape/design containing mosquito-repellent at a concentration which raises the expectation to be used as a repellent delivery-device.