Degradation branched polymer architecture

In their study of branched PSA, Maniar et al. (1990) found that the molecular architecture of branched polymers affects the release kinetics in a variety of ways. They found that the branched polymers degraded faster than linear PSA of comparable molecular weight (Maniar et al., 1990). They also noted that drug (morphine) release profiles were more characteristic of bulk erosion than surface erosion An initial lag time during which very little drug was released was associated with the time required for water to swell the polymer. This was followed by a period of relatively fast release, which tapered off as the device disintegrated. The polymer matrix lost its mechanical integrity before the release experiment was complete (Maniar et al., 1990). Despite the increase... 

A second and distinct era in the development of branched macromolecular architecture encompasses the time between 1940 to 1978, or approximately the next four decades. Kuhn 151 published the first report of the use of statistical methods for analysis of a polymer problem in 1930. Equations were derived for molecular weight distributions of degraded cellulose. Thereafter, mathematical analyses of polymer properties and interactions flourished. Perhaps no single person has affected linear and non-linear polymer chemistry as profoundly as P. J. Flory. His contributions were rewarded by receipt of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1974. 

Hyperbranched polymers represent a compromise between the perfect structures of dendrimers and the partially degraded architecture of activated PAMAMs. In this way such polymeric architectures are the structural prerequisites implicated in the design of an efficient gene vector. Hyperbranched polymers are highly branched molecules, composed of dendritic (D), linear (L), and terminal units (T) (Fig. 5). 

Bulk mechanochemistry. Unlike linear polymers, the activation of mechanophore in nonlinear macromolecules in bulk is almost blank. Recently, May found that polymers with branched architectures activate more slowly than linear counterparts in solution, yet more quickly in solid-state tensile experiments [198]. In the bulk, more factors take part in the chain degradation event, including but not limited to chain entanglements, phase separation, crystallization, and supramolecular interactions. Inspections in this direction can aid the design of mechanoresponsive materials in the solid state. 

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