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A new generation of poly(lactide/ε‐caprolactone) polymeric biomaterials for application in the medical field
Author(s) -
Fernández J.,
Larrañaga A.,
Etxeberria A.,
Wang W.,
Sarasua J. R.
Publication year - 2014
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.35036
Subject(s) - materials science , caprolactone , lactide , elastomer , polyester , copolymer , crystallization , degradation (telecommunications) , polymer , thermoplastic elastomer , glass transition , polymer chemistry , biodegradable polymer , composite material , chemical engineering , telecommunications , computer science , engineering
Thermoplastic biodegradable polymers displaying an elastomeric behavior are greatly valued for the regeneration of soft tissues and for various medical devices. In this work, terpolymers composed of ε‐caprolactone (CL), d ‐lactide ( d ‐LA), and l ‐lactide ( l ‐LA) were synthesized. These poly(lactide‐ε‐caprolactone) (PLCLs) presented an elevated randomness character ( R ∼1), glass transition temperatures (T g ) higher than 20°C and adjusted l ‐LA content. In this way, the l ‐LA average sequence length ( l L‐LA ) was reduced to below 3.62 and showed little or no crystallization capability during in vitro degradation. As a result, the obtained materials underwent homogenous degradation exhibiting K Mw ranging from 0.030 to 0.066 d −1 and without generation of crystalline remnants in advanced stages of degradation. Mechanical performance was maintained over a period of 21 days for a rac‐lactide‐ε‐caprolactone copolymer composed of ∼85% d , l ‐LA and ∼15% CL and also for a terpolymer composed of ∼72% l ‐LA, ∼12% d ‐LA and ∼16% CL. Terpolymers having l ‐LA content from ∼60 to 70% and CL content from ∼10 to 27% were also studied. In view of the results, those materials having CL and d ‐LA units disrupting the microstructural arrangement of the l ‐LA crystallizable chains, an l ‐LA content <72% and a random distribution of sequences, may display proper and tunable mechanical behavior and degradation performance for a large number of medical applications. Those with a CL content from 15 to 30% will fulfill the demand of elastomeric materials of T g higher than 20°C whereas those with a CL content from 5 to 15% might be applied as ductile stiff materials. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 3573–3584, 2014.