Title
Effect of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles on the degradability of random poly(butylene terephthalate-co-aliphatic dicarboxylate)s having a high content of terephthalic units
Date Issued
06 July 2016
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Publisher(s)
MDPI AG
Abstract
Copolyesters derived from 1,4-butanediol and constituted also of aliphatic and aromatic dicarboxylate units in a molar ratio of 3:7 were synthesized by a two-step polycondensation procedure. Succinic, adipic, and sebacic acids were specifically selected as the aliphatic component whereas terephthalic acid was chosen as the aromatic moiety. The second synthesis step was a thermal transesterification between the corresponding homopolymers, always attaining a random distribution as verified by NMR spectroscopy. Hybrid polymer composites containing 2.5 wt % of hydroxyapatite (HAp) were also prepared by in situ polymerization. Hydroxyl groups on the nanoparticle surface allowed the grafting of polymer chains in such a way that composites were mostly insoluble in the typical solvents of the parent copolyesters. HAp had some influence on crystallization from the melt, thermal stability, and mechanical properties. HAp also improved the biocompatibility of samples due to the presence of Ca2+ cations and the damping effect of phosphate groups. Interestingly, HAp resulted in a significant increase in the hydrophilicity of samples, which considerably affected both enzymatic and hydrolytic degradability. Slight differences were also found in the function of the dicarboxylic component, as the lowest degradation rates was found for the sample constituted of the most hydrophobic sebacic acid units.
Volume
8
Issue
7
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería química
Ciencia de los polímeros
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84982787937
Source
Polymers
ISSN of the container
20734360
Sponsor(s)
The authors acknowledge support from MINECO and FEDER (MAT2015-69547-R), and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR188).
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus