Photocrosslinked Alginate-Methacrylate Hydrogels with Modulable Mechanical Properties: Effect of the Molecular Conformation and Electron Density of the Methacrylate Reactive Group.

ABSTRACT: Hydrogels for load-bearing biomedical applications, such as soft tissue replacement, are required to be tough and biocompatible. In this sense, alginate-methacrylate hydrogels (H-ALGMx) are well known to present modulable levels of elasticity depending on the methacrylation degree; however, little is known about the role of additional structural parameters. In this work, we present an experimental-computational approach aimed to evaluate the effect of the molecular conformation and electron density of distinct methacrylate groups on the mechanical properties of photocrosslinked H-ALGMx hydrogels. Three alginate-methacrylate precursor macromers (ALGMx) were synthesized: alginate-glycidyl methacrylate (ALGM1), alginate-2-aminoethyl methacrylate (ALGM2), and alginate-methacrylic anhydride (AL

SUBMITTER: Araiza-Verduzco F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7040623 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature