Self-Healing Hydrogels Formed by Complexation between Calcium Ions and Bisphosphonate-Functionalized Star-Shaped Polymers

• Published in: Macromolecules Vol. 50; no. 21; pp. 8698 - 8706
• Main Authors: Lopez-Perez, Paula M, da Silva, Ricardo M. P, Strehin, Iossif, Kouwer, Paul H. J, Leeuwenburgh, Sander C. G, Messersmith, Phillip B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 14.11.2017
• Subjects: calcium; crosslinking; gelation; hydrogels; ions; loss modulus; mixing; molecular weight; polyethylene glycol; rheology; PEG; calcium; hydrogel; star-shaped polymer; bisphosphonate; ionomer; Self-healing; alendronate; bone; dynamic biomaterials; stress relaxation

Star-shaped poly­(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain termini were functionalized with alendronate to create transient networks with reversible cross-links upon addition of calcium ions. The gelation ability of alendronate-functionalized PEG was greatly dependent on the number of arms and arm molecular wei...