Polycaprolactone cross-linking

Figure 4. Birefringence of HMDl cross-linked polycaprolactone (PCP2) as a function of stress (at room temperature).

As pointed out by Heller (2), polymer erosion can be controlled by the following three types of mechanisms (1) water-soluble polymers insolubilized by hydrolytically unstable cross-links (2) water-insoluble polymers solubilized by hydrolysis, ionization, or protonation of pendant groups (3) hydrophobic polymers solubilized by backbone cleavage to small water soluble molecules. These mechanisms represent extreme cases the actual erosion may occur by a combination of mechanisms. In addition to poly (lactic acid), poly (glycolic acid), and lactic/glycolic acid copolymers, other commonly used bioerodible/biodegradable polymers include polyorthoesters, polycaprolactone, polyaminoacids, polyanhydrides, and half esters of methyl vinyl ether-maleic anhydride copolymers (3). 

PHA chemical modification can be done via block copolymerizadon and grafting reactions, chlorination, cross-linking, epoxidation, hydroxyl and carboxylic acid functionalization, etc. (Chen et al. 2009 Wu et al. 2008 Li et al. 2003 Loh et al. 2007). A common approach to confer toughness to PLA is the use of a flexible monomer or macromolecules for copolymerization with lactide to form PLA-based random or block copolymers. Reported PLA-based block copolymers include diblock, triblock, and multiblock copolymers, such as poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA)-polycaprolactone (Jeon et al. 2003), poly(ethylene glycol)-PLLA (Chen et al. 2003), poly(trimethylene carbonate)-PLLA (Tohru et al. 2003), and PLA-PBS-PLA. 

J.C. (2011) The enhancement of VEGF-mediated angiogenesis by polycaprolactone scaffolds with surface cross-linked heparin. Biomaterials, 32 (8), 2059-2069. 

Various polymers have been successfully electrospun from solution, sol-gel suspension, or melt into ultrafine nanotibers. For example, as listed in Table 13.2, these polymers included nylon-6 [20, 21], polyacrylonitrile (PAN) [22, 23], polyethylene terephthalate (PET) [24], polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [25], polystyrene (PS) [26, 27], polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) [28, 29], polyethersulfone (PES) [30], polyimides (PI) [31, 32], polyethylene oxide (PEO) [33], polyurethanes (PU) [34], polycarbonates (PC) [35], polycaprolactone (PCL) [36], polybenzimidazole (PBI) [37, 38], polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) [39], polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) [40], polyvinyl chloride (PVC) [41], polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) [42], hydrox-ypropyl cellulose (HPC) [43], polyglycolic acid (PGA) [44], polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) [45], cellulose acetate (CA) [46,47] and many more. To be used as filtration membranes, nanoflbers made of water-soluble polymers have to be further cross-linked after the electrospinning process. As polymers having different physical and... 

In the case of the elastomers, formulations that use diisocyanates (O Fig. 14.16) and mixtures of long diols (oligomers of polybutadiene, polycaprolactone, or polaxyethylene) and short diols lead to thermoplastic elastomer behavior, with physical cross-links (rigid sequences) finding themselves associated, dispersed in micro-doinains, with a continuous elastomer phase (flexible sequences). 

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