Optimized synthesis of biodegradable elastomer pegylated poly(glycerol sebacate) and their biomedical application

Poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS), a biodegradable elastomer, has been extensively explored in biomedical applications for its favorable mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Efforts have been made to fabricate multifunctional PGS copolymer in recent years, in particular PGS-co-PEG (poly(glycerol sebacate)-co-polyethylene glycol) polymers. However, rare research has been systematically conducted on the effect of reactant ratios on physicochemical properties and biocompatibility of PGS copolymer till now. In this study, a serial of PEGylated PGS (PEGS) with PEG content from 20% to 40% and carboxyl to hydroxyl from 0.67 to 2 were synthesized by thermal curing process. The effects of various PEGS on the mechanical strength and biological activity were further compared and optimized. The results showed that the PEGS elastomers around 20PEGS-1.0C/H and 40PEGS-1.5C/H exhibited the desirable hydrophilicity, degradation behaviors, mechanical properties and cell viability. Subsequently, the potential applications of the 20PEGS-1.0C/H and 40PEGS-1.5C/H in bone repair scaffold and vascular reconstruction were investigated and the results showed that 20PEGS-1.0C/H and 40PEGS-1.5C/H could significantly improve the mechanical strength for the calcium phosphate scaffolds and exhibited preferable molding capability for fabrication of the vascular substitute. These results confirmed that the optimized PEGS elastomers should be promising multifunctional substrates in biomedical applications.