Synthesis and Characterization of New Unsaturated Degradable Poly(ether ester amide)s Containing Ethylene Oxide Moieties

Abstract

A series of novel biodegradable unsaturated poly(ether ester amide)s (PEEAs) have been successfully prepared through interfacial polycondensation of 1,6-hexanediamine and unsaturated diacylchlorides containing ethylene oxide moieties linked to maleic anhydride by ester. The structures of PEEAs are verified by FT-IR and NMR spectra. The DSC and TGA measurements demonstrate the obtained polymers are amorphous and stable up to 300°C under nitrogen. Synthesized PEEAs show good hydrophilicity and improved solubility. The rate of hydrolytic degradation performed in the phosphate buffer solution (pH = 7.2) at 37°C increases with increasing the number of ether linkages per repeat unit in polymers. The degradation results indicate that PEEAs are hydrolyzable in a rapid and steady way.

Keywords:

• degradable
• interfacial polycondensation
• unsaturated
• synthesis
• thermal

Acknowledgements

The study was financially supported by the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (07300602), National Basic Research program (Grant No. 2005CB623902), and the Postdoctoral Innovation Fund of South China University of Technology.

Notes

^a Intrinsic viscosities measured in dichloroacetic acid at 25°C, contact angle determined by Krúss DSA-10.

^a +: soluble; −: insoluble.