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Thermoresponsive degradable poly(ethylene glycol) analogues
Author(s) -
Wang Na,
Dong Anjie,
Radosz Maciej,
Shen Youqing
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.31466
Subject(s) - lower critical solution temperature , ethylene glycol , materials science , self healing hydrogels , thermoresponsive polymers in chromatography , peg ratio , monomer , polymer chemistry , polymer , polymerization , chemical engineering , copolymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , composite material , high performance liquid chromatography , finance , reversed phase chromatography , economics , engineering
Abstract Thermoresponsive polymers have many biomedical applications, but their nondegradability limits their in vivo applications. Herein, we report a new type of degradable thermoresponsive polymers—degradable poly (ethylene glycol) analogues (DPEGs) having lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs) ranging 10–50°C. DPEGs were synthesized by condensation polymerization of PEG‐di(meth)acrylates (PEGDA or PEGDMA) with dithiols. Their LCSTs could be easily tuned by the PEG‐chain length and the types of the double bond in the PEG monomers and dithiols. Long PEG chain and the presence of hydrophilic groups in the dithiol monomer increased the LCST of the resulting DPEG. Crosslinking DPEG chains produced thermoresponsive hydrogels. The hydrogels prepared by the end‐capping method maintained the thermoresponsive properties of the linear DPEG. The degradable thermoresponsive DPEGs and their hydrogels have great potentials for in vivo biomedical applications. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2008