Polyphosphazenes groups

Phosphazene polymers are inherently good electrical insulators unless side-group stmctures allow ionic conduction in the presence of salts. This insulating property forms the basis for appHcations as wire and cable jackets and coatings. Polyphosphazenes also exhibit excellent visible and uv radiation transparency when chromophoric substituents are absent. 

Eig. 1. Schematic bioactive polyphosphazenes. (a) General stmcture, where X = hydrophilic /hydrophobic group that hydrolyzes with concurrent polymer breakdown, Y = difunctional group for attaching bioactive agent to polymer, and T = bioactive agent, (b) Actual example where X = —OC H, Y = and... 

Applications. Polymers with small alkyl substituents, particularly (13), are ideal candidates for elastomer formulation because of quite low temperature flexibiUty, hydrolytic and chemical stabiUty, and high temperature stabiUty. The abiUty to readily incorporate other substituents (ia addition to methyl), particularly vinyl groups, should provide for conventional cure sites. In light of the biocompatibiUty of polysdoxanes and P—O- and P—N-substituted polyphosphazenes, poly(alkyl/arylphosphazenes) are also likely to be biocompatible polymers. Therefore, biomedical appHcations can also be envisaged for (3). A third potential appHcation is ia the area of soHd-state batteries. The first steps toward ionic conductivity have been observed with polymers (13) and (15) using lithium and silver salts (78). 

Allcock HR, Austin PE, Neenan TX, Langex R, and Shriver DF. Polyphosphazenes with etheric side groups Prospective biomedical and solid electrolyte. Macromolecules, 1986, 19, 1508. 

Anurima S, Nicholas RK, Swaminathan S, Lakshmi SN, Jacqueline LS, Paul WB, Cato TL, and Harry RA. Effect of side group chemistry on the properties of biodegradable L-alanine cosubstituted polyphosphazenes. Biomacromolecules, 2006, 7, 914-918. 

Up to now, nine classes of different polyphosphazenes are known and characterized substituted with aliphatic alcohols [40,41,262-281] or phenols [41,95, 277,282-297],with aliphatic [42,298-300] or aromatic [301-304] amino groups, with di-functional spiro hydroxy (e.g. dihydroxybiphenyl [305] or di hydroxy-... 

In this context, phosphoranimine compoimds (both homosubstituted with an unique group or bearing two different groups at the phosphorus) play a fundamental role because their polymerization under different experimental conditions eventually leads to fully substituted polyphosphazenes with no residual chlorines on the phosphazene skeleton. The general scheme of the phosphoranimine polymerization processes is reported in Fig. 10. 

A major feature of the polyphosphazene skeleton is its ability to resist fire and combustion due to the inorganic elements constitutive of its structure [44,387, 388,459,460]. Moreover, the action of skeletal nitrogen and phosphorus atoms can be enhanced by inserting additional inorganic elements (F, Cl, Br, J, B, metals, etc.) in the substituent groups [459,460]. 

The possibility of substituting two or more different groups on the same polyphosphazene skeleton [263], even in different relative percentages, to form phosphazene substituent copolymers [399,457]... 

If we consider the LOI values reported in Table 8, it can be clearly seen that the flame resistance of polyphosphazenes is very high and can reach values above 60 when halogenated phenoxy groups (e.g. 4-bromophenoxy) are attached to the polymer chain. However, enhancement of the carbon content in the materials (i.e. by increasing the percentage of organic substituents in the chain) induces a concurrent decrease in the flame resistance of POPs, which can be depressed to 23.4 in the case of poly[bis(4-/sopropylphenoxy)phos-phazene]. 

In conclusion, polyphosphazenes containing fluoroalkoxy groups as side phosphorus substituents constitute one of the most relevant class of macromolecules of this family and have attracted remarkable interest in the past because of their outstanding properties and wide range of applicability, especially in low and high temperature domains, and have received renewed interest in more recent times [399,457]. 

Polyphosphazenes are intrinsically fire-resistant materials because of the presence of phosphorus and nitrogen in the polymeric chain. A low flammability is thus one of the most important properties of polyphosphazenes, particularly of the polyaryloxyphosphazenes I, in which R may be H, halogens, and alkyl or alkoxy groups. 

Aryloxyphosphazene copolymers can also confer fireproof properties to flammable materials when blended. Dieck [591] have used the copolymers III, and IV containing small amounts of reactive unsaturated groups to prepare blends with compatible organic polymers crosslinkable by the same mechanism which crosslinks the polyphosphazene, e.g. ethylene-propylene and butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymers, poly(vinyl chloride), unsaturated urethane rubber. These blends were used to prepare foams exhibiting excellent fire retardance and producing low smoke levels or no smoke when heated in an open flame. Oxygen index values of 27-56 were obtained. 

Polyphosphazenes bearing crown ethers (12-crown-4,15-crown-5 and 18-crown-6) as single or as mixed substituents with trifluoroethoxy or methoxy-ethoxyethoxy groups were synthesized by Cowie [601,602] and Allcock [484] and their conductivity studied because it was shown that the incorporation of crown ether molecules into a polymer electrolyte could increase their ionic conductivity. In these macromolecules, the crown ether units were linked to the backbone through oxymethylene spacer groups. 

Gel electrolytes were also prepared by Allcock [605] from co-substituted polyphosphazenes with various ratios of methoxyethoxyethoxy and trifluo-roethoxy side groups, lithium triflate and propylene carbonate. These gel electrolyte systems have a better mechanical stability than MEEP. The highest ionic conductivity obtained was 7.7x10" S cm" at 25 °C for a gel containing 37.5% of polymer with 80% and 20% of methoxyethoxyethoxy and trifluoro ethoxy... 

Poly[bis(amino)phosphazenes] XVI and a series of polyphosphazenes bearing Methoxy-ethoxyethoxy and alkylamine side groups XVII have been synthesized and complexed with LiCl04 by Chen-Yang [623,624]. 

As already reported in Table 6, the solubility of phosphazene polymers is strongly influenced by the nature of the substituent groups attached at the phosphorus atoms along the -P=N- skeleton. Water-solubility, for instance, can be induced in polyphosphazenes by using strongly polar substituents (e.g. methylamine [84], glucosyl [495], glyceryl [496], polyoxyethylene mono-methylether [273] or sulfonic acid [497,498] derivatives), or may be promoted by acids or bases when basic (amino substituents like ethylamine [499]) or acid (e.g. aryloxy carboxylate [499] or aryloxy hydroxylate [295]) substituents are exploited. 

Additional polyphosphazene hydrogels deal with polymers in which gluco-syl side groups are co-substituted with trifluoroethoxy, phenoxy, methylamino or methoxyethoxyethoxy moieties [646]. 

Concurrent with these investigations, polyphosphazene matrices, functionalized with aminoacid esters or with imidazole groups, became of importance because of their tissue engineering aspects in bone regeneration [655,656,679], treatment of periodontal diseases [657], and nerve reconstruction problems [680-682] in which the remarkable bio compatibility of POP matrices was coupled with their tuneable bio degradability. 

When compounds with more comphcated chemical structures were taken into consideration as possible polyphosphazene substituents, the polymers started to show spectroscopic absorptions at wavelengths longer than 240-280 nm. As a consequence, significant photochemical activity started to be observed for POPs, intimately correlated to the photochemical features of these groups. 

Substituent groups on a polyphosphazene chain containing mobile hydrogen atoms (4-isopropylphenol [715,716], 4-benzylphenol [293,718], etc.) showed a completely different photochemical reactivity both in solution and in sohd state under accelerated conditions, based mostly on the fight-induced oxidation of these groups and radical formation reactions. 

When the substituent groups in the polyphosphazenes were azobenzene [719] or spiropyran [720] derivatives, photochromic polymers were obtained, showing reversible light-induced trans-cis isomerization or merocyanine formation, respectively. Only photocrosslinking processes by [2+2] photo-addition reactions to cyclobutane rings could be observed when the substituent groups on the phosphazene backbone were 4-hydroxycinnamates [721-723] or 4-hydroxychalcones [722-724]. 

It can also be mentioned that polyphosphazenes substituted with aromatic groups, such as phenols or naphthols, can form inter- and intra- molecular excimers by coupling reaction of the planar aromatic rings of the substituents under illumination [467-471,473,725]. These species disappear as soon as the light is switched off. 

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce a new class of polymers for both types of biomedical uses a polymer system in which the hydrolytic stability or instability is determined not by changes in the backbone structure, but by changes in the side groups attached to an unconventional macromolecular backbone. These polymers are polyphosphazenes, with the general molecular structure shown in structure 1. 

Molecular structural changes in polyphosphazenes are achieved mainly by macromolecular substitution reactions rather than by variations in monomer types or monomer ratios (1-4). The method makes use of a reactive macromolecular intermediate, poly(dichlorophosphazene) structure (3), that allows the facile replacement of chloro side groups by reactions of this macromolecule with a wide range of chemical reagents. The overall pathway is summarized in Scheme I. 

Some of the most hydrophobic synthetic polymers known are polyphosphazenes that bear fluoroalkoxy side groups (1,2,10-12). Examples are shown in structures 11 and 1. ... 

The connection between hydrophobicity and tissue compatibility has been noted for classical organic polymers (19). A key feature of the polyphosphazene substitutive synthesis method is the ease with which the surface hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity can be fine-tuned by variations in the ratios of two or more different side groups. It can also be varied by chemical reactions carried out on the organo-phosphazene polymer molecules themselves or on the surfaces of the solid materials. 

The biomedical uses of polyphosphazenes mentioned earlier involve chemistry that could in principle be carried out on a classical petrochemical-based polymer. However, in their bioerosion reactions, polyphosphazenes display a uniqueness that sets them apart. This uniqueness stems from the presence of the inorganic backbone, which in the presence of appropriate side groups is capable of undergoing facile hydrolysis to phosphate and ammonia. Phosphate can be metabolized, and ammonia is excreted. If the side groups released in this process are also metabolizable or excretable, the polymer can be eroded under hydrolytic conditions without the danger of a toxic response. Thus, poljnners of this tjT are candidates for use as erodible biostructural materials or sutures, or as matrices for the controlled delivery of drugs. Four examples will be given to illustrate the opportunities that exist. 

The first bioerodible polyphosphazenes synthesized possessed amino acid ester side groups (25). The structure and preparation of one example is shown in Scheme V. The ethyl glycinato derivative shown... 

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