Biodegradable, anti‐adhesive and tough polyurethane hydrogels crosslinked by triol crosslinkers

Abstract

The mechanical and biodegradable properties of hydrogels are two essential properties for practical biomaterial applications. In this work, a series of biodegradable polyurethane (PU) hydrogels were successfully synthesized using two kinds of triol crosslinkers with different chain structures. One crosslinker is normal glycerol (GC) with short chain length, and the other is biodegradable poly (ε-caprolactone)triol (CAPA) with long chain length. All PU hydrogels showed considerable water uptake around~60%, excellent strength (above 3 MPa), advisable modulus (0.9~1.7 MPa), high elasticity (above 700%), as well as good biodegradability and biocompatibility. Hydrogen bonds served as reversible sacrificial bonds in the PU hydrogels endow them good toughness with partial hysteresis during deformation. The biodegradable long chain crosslinker CAPA can certainly accelerate the degradation of PU hydrogels compared with the GC crosslinked hydrogels. The degradation of these hydrogels was a process of continuous erosion from the surface to interior, which contributes to the high remain of mechanical properties after 30 days-degradation. Besides, the hydrogels also show excellent antifouling ability of protein and anti-adhesion of cells. Therefore, these hydrogels suggest great potential used as biological anti-adhesive membranes or catheters. K E Y W O R D Santi-adhesion, biodegradation, polyurethane hydrogel, tough, triol crosslinkers

A Robust, Tough and Multifunctional Polyurethane/Tannic Acid Hydrogel Fabricated by Physical-Chemical Dual Crosslinking

“…At present, a great remaining challenge is to prepare a robust PU hydrogel with excellent adhesiveness [49]. Herein, we deliberately introduced TA into the PU hydrogel networks to increase their adhesiveness without compromising their mechanical properties, owing to abundant catechol groups present in the chemical structure of TA [35].…”

A bioinspired Janus polyurethane membrane for potential periodontal tissue regeneration

“…Because the polyurethane membranes contain a degradable PCL soft segment, the hydrophilicity may affect the degradation behaviors, 26 so the hydrophilicity of the polyurethane membranes was first studied. As shown in Fig.…”

“…25 Considering the asymmetric functional requirements of GTR membranes for periodontal tissue regeneration, the well-designed functional segments should be contained in the PU to facilitate the formation of an asymmetric double-sided function. The segments of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in PU tend to form a hydrophilic layer to decrease cell adhesion, 26 while importing bioactive segments can promote cell adhesion and cell proliferation. Importing dopamine (DA) segments is a relatively simple and efficient method to enhance bioactivity, 27,28 because the mussel adhesion protein-inspired substance gives the material strong adhesion, as well as promoting cell adhesion.…”

Simple Preparation of a Waterborne Polyurethane Crosslinked Hydrogel Adhesive With Satisfactory Mechanical Properties and Adhesion Properties

“…The wide peak of 3,500–3,100 cm −1 was attributed to–N–H stretching vibration, and the sub peak near 3,206 cm −1 was attributed to hydrogen bonded–N–H stretching vibration. The strong absorption peak near 1,660 cm −1 belonged to the superposition of C=O and amide I bands of polyurethane and polyacrylamide; the peak at 1,537 cm −1 was attributed to the stretching of C–N and the bending vibration of–N–H; the peak at 1,200–900 cm −1 was attributed to C–O–C stretching vibration ( Xiao et al, 2019 ). No asymmetric stretching vibration peak of NCO was found at 2,200–2,300 cm −1 , indicating that the isocyanate group reacted completely.…”

“…As a synthetic hydrogel, polyurethane hydrogel has been extensively used in various medical applications due to its adjustable structure, good mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. Therefore, various medical applications based on polyurethane hydrogel have been realized, from controlled drug delivery carriers ( Ding et al, 2013 ; Sardon et al, 2015 ; Polo Fonseca et al, 2018 ) to promising or commercialized blood contact equipment materials, such as artificial heart valves, which have attracted extensive attention in recent years ( Xiao et al, 2019 ).…”