Thiol-Based Three-Dimensional Printing of Fully Degradable Poly(propylene fumarate) Star Polymers

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 14; no. 34; pp. 38436 - 38447
• Main Authors: Kirillova, Alina, Yeazel, Taylor R., Gall, Ken, Becker, Matthew L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 31.08.2022
• Subjects: Biological and Medical Applications of Materials and Interfaces; star polymers; thiolene cross-linking; additive manufacturing; vat photopolymerization; degradable polymers
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c06553

Poly­(propylene fumarate) star polymers photochemically 3D printed with degradable thiol cross-linkers yielded highly tunable biodegradable polymeric materials. Tailoring the alkene:thiol ratio (5:1, 10:1, 20:1 and 30:1) and thus the cross-link density within the PPF star systems yielded a wide variation of both the mechanical and degradation properties of the printed materials. Fundamental trends were established between the polymer network cross-link density, glass transition temperature, and tensile and thermomechanical properties of the materials. The tensile properties of the PPF star-based systems were compared to commercial state-of-the-art non-degradable polymer resins. The thiolene-cross-linked materials are fully degradable and possess properties over a wide range of mechanical properties relevant to regenerative medicine applications.