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Effects of Terminal Sterilization on PEG‐Based Bioresorbable Polymers Used in Biomedical Applications
Author(s) -
Bhatnagar Divya,
Dube Koustubh,
Damodaran Vinod B.,
Subramanian Ganesan,
Aston Kenneth,
Halperin Frederick,
Mao Meiyu,
Pricer Kurt,
Murthy N. Sanjeeva,
Kohn Joachim
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201600133
Subject(s) - polymer , ethylene oxide , materials science , ethylene glycol , sterilization (economics) , polymer chemistry , peg ratio , monomer , nuclear chemistry , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , chemistry , copolymer , composite material , finance , economics , foreign exchange , monetary economics , foreign exchange market , engineering
The effects of ethylene oxide (EO), vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP), gamma (γ) radiation, and electron‐beam (E‐beam) on the physiochemical and morphological properties of medical device polymers are investigated. Polymers with ether, carbonate, carboxylic acid, amide and ester functionalities are selected from a family of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) containing tyrosine‐derived polycarbonates (TyrPCs) to include slow, medium, fast, and ultra‐fast degrading polymers. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is used for comparison. Molecular weight ( M w ) of all tested polymers decreases upon gamma and E‐beam, and this effect becomes more pronounced at higher PEG content. Gamma sterilization increases the glass transition temperature of polymers with high PEG content. EO esterifies the carboxylic acid groups in desaminotyrosol‐tyrosine (DT) and causes significant degradation. VHP causes hydroxylation of the phenyl ring, and hydrolytic degradation. This study signifies the importance of the chemical composition when selecting a sterilization method, and provides suggested conditions for each of the sterilization methods.