(Polym. Chem.) Biodegradable and Crosslinkable Poly(propylene fumarate) Liquid Crystal Polymers
writer：Liu, Z.; Wang, M.; Huang, S.; Yang, H.*
keywords：Liquid Crystal Polymer
source：期刊
specific source：Polymer Chemistry, 2022, 13, 1267-1273.
Issue time：2022年
In recent years, liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have attracted extensive attention due to their widespread
application in artificial muscles, engineering plastics, high-modulus fibers, etc. However, the design and
fabrication of LCP materials with excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and mechanical properties
are still challenging. Here, we synthesized two poly(propylene fumarate)-backbone LCPs (PPF-LCPs) by
ring opening polymerization (ROP) between two cholesterol-based epoxy monomers and maleic anhydride,
and a successive isomerization process. The resulting PPF-LCPs bearing biocompatible
cholesterol units exhibit good thermal stability and a highly ordered Smectic A phase. Moreover, a
UV-initiated chemical crosslinking of the unsaturated PPF main chain dramatically strengthens the
mechanical performance of the corresponding PPF-LCP materials. Furthermore, the in vitro degradation
experiments indicate the good biodegradability of crosslinked PPF-LCP films. These novel PPF-LCPs are
of potential utility as biological tissue engineering materials.