Biodegradable Polycaprolactone/Poly(ethylene glycol) Crosslinked Network Blends
Qipeng Guo, Peter Halley
Division of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland
Australia

Keywords: Biodegradable, Polycaprolactone, Poly(ethylene glycol)

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We report the preparation and characterization of biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) crosslinked network blends. Blends of PCL with crosslinked PEG network are obtained via in situ reactive blending of diglycidylether of poly(ethylene glycol) (DGEPEG), curing agent and PCL homopolymer. The reaction starts from the initial homogeneous ternary mixtures composed of DGEPEG, curing agent and PCL. Both PEG and PCL are important biodegradable polymers widely used for many biomedical and biotechnological applications. PEG presents outstanding physicochemical and biological properties, including hydrophilicity, solubility in water and in organic solvents, lack of toxicity, and absence of antigenicity and immunogenicity. PCL is hydrophobic and has better mechanical properties. Blending hydrophilic PEG network with hydrophobic PCL will combine their advantages and result the new materials with excellent properties and dimensional stability. This reactive blending method yields a series of completely biodegradable PCL/PEO crosslinked network blends with a variety of compositions and properties.