Open Access

ARTICLE

Bulk CO₂-based Amorphous Triols Used for Designing Biocompatible Shape-Memory Polyurethanes

Shunjie Liu^1,2, Yusheng Qin^1,*, Xianhong Wang^1,*, Fosong Wang¹

1 Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, People’s Republic of China
2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, People’s Republic of China

* Corresponding Authors: ;

Journal of Renewable Materials 2015, 3(2), 101-112. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2014.634140

Received 12 December 2014; Accepted 11 March 2015;

Abstract

Precursors with sharp crystalline transition temperature have attracted signifi cant attention in the fi eld of shape-memory materials; however, seldom have reports been related to amorphous ones with industrial application prospects. This study introduced a new family of amorphous CO₂ -based hydroxyl-telechelic three-armed oligo(carbonate-ether) triol (Triol) with controllable molecular weight (M_n) and carbonate unit content (CU), which was coupled with PEG and 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) to afford crosslinked polyurethanes (PU) networks with well-defi ned architecture. A crosslinking point was provided by Triol and PEG was used to afford networks some crystallinity. The resulting networks were characterized using attentuated total refl ectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the shape-memory effect test provided insight into the relationship between shape memory behaviors and polymeric structures. The networks displayed good dual-shape memory effect when compared with others: shape fi xity ratio (R_f ) could be controlled by changing the Triol content and M_n' and all the shape recovery ratios (R_r ) of the networks could unexpectedly approach 100% under the experimental conditions. Interestingly, the substructure of the Triol CU, could effectively regulate the recovery time of the networks, e.g., the recovery time decreased with the increment of Triol CU without changing R_f and R_r . Besides, crystalline transition temperature could be simply changed by altering Triol content. A typical sample Triol(2k, 50%)₄₀-PEG(6k)₆₀ displayed excellent dual-shape effect with almost 100% R_f and R_r at a recovery time of 40 s at 70o C. More interestingly, this sample could almost immediately recover its original shape (in less than 3 s) when immersed in 70o C water. Direct contact and MTT tests were used for assessment of cell viability and proliferation. These results confi rmed the potential of these polyurethanes as a new family of tunable biomedical shape-memory materials.

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Keywords

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