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Biodegradable Polymers Derived From Amino Acids
Author(s) -
Khan Wahid,
Muthupandian Saravanan,
Farah Shady,
Kumar Neeraj,
Domb Abraham J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201100324
Subject(s) - polymer , biocompatibility , amino acid , biodegradable polymer , biodegradation , conjugated system , chemistry , natural polymers , functional polymers , materials science , combinatorial chemistry , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , biochemistry , polymerization
In the past three decades, the use of polymeric materials has increased dramatically for biomedical applications. Many α‐amino acids derived biodegradable polymers have also been intensely developed with the main goal to obtain bio‐mimicking functional biomaterials. Polymers derived from α‐amino acids may offer many advantages, as these polymers: (a) can be modified further to introduce new functions such as imaging, molecular targeting and drugs can be conjugated chemically to these polymers, (b) can improve on better biological properties like cell migration, adhesion and biodegradability, (c) can improve on mechanical and thermal properties and (d) their degradation products are expected to be non‐toxic and readily metabolized/excreted from the body. This manuscript focuses on biodegradable polymers derived from natural amino acids, their synthesis, biocompatibility and biomedical applications. It is observed that polymers derived from α‐amino acids constitute a promising family of biodegradable materials. These provide innovative multifunctional polymers possessing amino acid side groups with biological activity and with innumerous potential applications.