Phosphorus-Containing Polymers: A Great Opportunity for the Biomedical Field

Abstract

This Review is focused on the growing interest brought to phosphorus-containing organic materials for applications in the biomedical field, mainly because of their properties such as biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and protein adsorption resistance. It mainly describes relevant works achieved on these materials for various applications: dentistry, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery. Special attention was given to 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) monomer as the latter appeared of great importance because of its biomimetic structure due to the presence of the phospholipid group on its structure. As a result, much research effort is currently concentrated on the development of phosphorylcholine-containing (co)polymers that represent a promising class of materials.

Nano-scale encapsulation enhances allograft survival and function of islets transplanted in a mouse model of diabetes

“…1) in the coating constructs to minimise interactions between islets and the environment. The PC moiety, which is a component of plasma cell membranes, confers hydrophilicity, haemocompatibility and resistance to non-specific protein absorption, thus inhibiting the development of fibrosis, supporting endothelial cell growth [36] and also carrying anticoagulatory properties [37,38], all of which should enhance islet survival in vivo and encourage host integration. In addition, the 40% amine group content of the PC modification for chitosan increased the solubility of the polysaccharide up to about 2 mg/ml under physiological pH conditions (pH∼7.0).…”

A straightforward synthesis of well‐defined difluorophosphonylated terminated poly(ε‐caprolactone) for grafting onto iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles

“…[1][2][3] Phosphorous polymers are mostly obtained by the incorporation of phosphorous group such as phosphate, phosphonate, or their corresponding acids into the macromolecular chain. 1,4 However, the low pKa 2 value of phosphonic acid and the hydrolyzable phosphate or phosphoric acid could limit their use for medicinal applications.…”

Polymer–lipid interactions: Biomimetic self-assembly behaviour and surface properties of poly(styrene-alt-maleic acid) with diacylphosphatidylcholines

“…PC-containing polymers have been widely used in various biomedical applications including contact lenses coatings, drug delivery systems, biochip-based diagnosis systems, bloodcontacting medical devices, and tissue engineering devices [21][22][23][24]. When functional hypercoiling polymers are combined with film-forming lipids they associate to produce lipidpolymer nanostructures analogous to naturally occurring lipoprotein assemblies in the form of flattened disk-like molecular assemblies.…”