Structure and thermal transitions in a biomedically relevant liquid crystalline poly(ester amide).

ABSTRACT: There is still a need to develop bioresorbable polymers with high strength and high modulus for load-bearing biomedical applications. Here we investigate the liquid crystalline structural features of poly(desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine dodecyl dodecanedioate), poly(DTD DD), a new bioresorbable poly(ester amide) that is currently studied in vivo as a slow-degrading implantable biomaterial for load bearing applications. Thermally induced structural changes in poly(DTD DD) were studied using simultaneously differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray scattering. The hexatic SmB organization of the polymer chains that exists at room temperature becomes progressively disordered upon heating, changing into a SmF phase and then into a smectic C phase at 60°C before turning into a free flowing melt

SUBMITTER: Bedoui F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6827981 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature