Microwave-assisted rapid synthesis of poly(glycerol-sebacate) elastomers

Abstract

Poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS) was introduced a decade ago as a potential material for soft tissue repair. All of the proposed copolymerization reactions in the literature include a two-stage (prepolymerization and curing) synthesis where the reaction times can take as long as several days. This study, on the other hand, proposes a new route that eliminates these disadvantages and enables a rapid synthesis of PGS elastomers via microwave-assisted prepolymerization in minutes instead of days. No purge gas, catalyst or vacuum is needed in the first prepolymerization step. The curing stage was carried out at 150 °C for 4, 8, 16, and 24 hours. The glass transition temperature (T_g) and melting temperatures for the glycerol and sebacic acid fragments (T_m1 and T_m2) of these PGS elastomers were found as −35.61 °C, −15.82 °C, and 61.70 °C, respectively. The Young's modulus and tensile strength values were found as 0.50 ± 0.02 MPa and 0.27 ± 0.06 MPa, respectively.