Biomaterial polymers, synthesis

Controlled/living radical polymerisation (CRP) is currently a fast developing area in polymer synthesis and it allows preparation of many advanced polymeric materials, including thermoplastic elastomers, surfactants, gels, coatings, biomaterials, materials for electronics and many others. 

Zang, J.Y., Beckman, E.J., Piesco, N.P., and Agrawal, S., A new peptide-based urethane polymer synthesis, biodegradation, and potential to support cell growth in-vitro. Biomaterials 21 1247-1258, 2000. 

General reviews of polymer biocatalysis can be found in (a) Cheng, H.N., and Gross, R.A. (eds) (2008) Polymer Biocatalysis and Biomaterials II, ACS Symposium Series 999, American Chemical Society. (b) Cheng, H.N., and Gross, R.A. (eds) (2005) Polymer Biocatalysis and Biomaterials, ACS Symposium Series 900, American Chemical Society. (c) Kobayashi, S., and Makino, A. (2009) Enzymatic polymer synthesis an opportunity for green polymer chemistry. Chem. Rev., 109, 5288-5353. (d) Kobayashi, S Uyama, H., and Kimura, S. (2001) Enzymatic polymerization. Chem. Rev.,... 

Biomaterials, Synthesis, Fabrication, and Applications Bioreactors Hybridomas, Genetic Engineering of Mammalian Cell Culture Metabolic Engineering Polymers, Synthesis Surface Chemistry... 

Polymers are everywhere, from natural materials like wood or silk to synthetic plastics, fibres and gels. The development of methods for the controlled synthesis of polymers is one of the most important technological advances of this century, ranking alongside the discovery of semiconductors (the basis of the information technology revolution) or more recent advances in the understanding of biomaterials. Polymers have replaced natural materials in many applications, and indeed for some everyday objects it is difficult to imagine them not made from polymers for example wooden or metal telephones are quite unusual. 

Woo GLY, Mittehnan MW, and Santerre JP. Synthesis and characterization of a novel biodegradable antimicrobial polymer. Biomaterials, 2000, 21, 1235-1246. 

Ishihara K, Hanyuda H, and Nakabayashi N. Synthesis of phospholipids polymers having a urethane bond in the side chain as coating material on segmented polyurethane and their platelet adhesion resistant properties. Biomaterials, 1995, 16(11), 873-879. 

Our interest in the synthesis of poly (amino acids) with modified backbones is based on the hypothesis that the replacement of conventional peptide bonds by nonamide linkages within the poIy(amino acid) backbone can significantly alter the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the resulting polymer. Preliminary results (see below) point to the possibility that the backbone modification of poly(amino acids) circumvents many of the limitations of conventional poly(amino acids) as biomaterials. It seems that backbone-modified poly (amino acids) tend to retain the nontoxicity and good biocompatibility often associated with conventional poly (amino acids)... 

Li, C., and Kohn, J., Synthesis of poly(iminocarbonates) Degradable polymers with potential applications as disposable pkmtics and as biomaterials. Macromolecules. 22. 2029-2036,... 

In an attempt to identify more biocompatible diphenols for the design of degradable biomaterials, we studied derivatives of tyrosine dipeptide as potential monomers. After protection of the amino terminus and the carboxylic acid terminus, the reactivity of tyrosine dipeptide (Figure 1) could be expected to be similar to the reactivity of industrial diphenols. Thus, derivatives of tyrosine dipeptide could be suitable replacements for BPA in the synthesis of a variety of new polymers that had heretofore not been accessible as biomaterials due to the lack of diphenolic monomers with good biocompatibility. 

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