Identification and quantification of polyethylene glycol types in polyethylene glycol methyl ether and polyethylene glycol vinyl ether

Developing vegetable oil-derived primary plasticizers for poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is still a challenge because of their insufficient compatibility. As described in this work, we report the synthesis of plasticizers through the esterification of polyethylene glycol methyl ether and dimer acid, in which dimer acid is renewable material prepared via a two-step reaction (1) the hydrolysis of fatty acids from soybean oil at 70 °C and (2) subsequent Diels–Alder reaction at 250 °C. The resulting plasticizers, dimer acid-derived polyethylene glycol methyl ether esters (DA-2n, 2n = 2, 4, 6 or 8 referring to the number of oxethyl units per molecule), were blended with PVC. It was found that the tensile properties, transparency, and thermal stability of plasticized PVC (PVC-DA-2n) increased significantly with an increase in the number of oxyethyl units. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed that its good compatibility can be attributed to the strong interaction between oxyethyl units and PVC. As the number of the oxyethyl units of plasticizer increased, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the corresponding plasticized PVC samples decreased from 62.3 (PVC-DA-2) to 35.4 °C (PVC-DA-8). Owing to the excellent plasticization of DA-8, the performances of PVC-DA-8 were comparable or better than that of the PVC plasticized using commercial dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP). The simple but efficient method of this study provides a new avenue for the preparation of vegetable oil-based plasticizers for PVC.

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Preparation and characterization of polycaprolactone–polyethylene glycol methyl ether and polycaprolactone–chitosan electrospun mats potential for vascular tissue engineering

Journal of Biomaterials Applications ◽

10.1177/0885328217733849 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 32 (5) ◽

pp. 648-662 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Tamanna Sultana ◽

Jhaleh Amirian ◽

Chanmi Park ◽

Seung Jin Lee ◽

Byong-Taek Lee

Keyword(s):

Tissue Engineering ◽

Polyethylene Glycol ◽

Methyl Ether ◽

Vascular Tissue ◽

Small Diameter ◽

Vascular Tissue Engineering ◽

Specific Gene ◽

Natural Polymers ◽

Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells ◽

Glycol Methyl Ether

Recently, natural polymers are frequently comingled with synthetic polymers either by physical or chemical modification to prepare numerous tissue-engineered graft with promising biological function, strength, and stability. The aim of this study was to determine the efficiency for vascular tissue engineering of two distinctly different mats, one that comprised polycaprolactone–polyethylene glycol methyl ether and other that comprised polycaprolactone–chitosan. Nano/microfibrous mats prepared from electro-spinning were characterized for fiber diameter, porosity, wettability, and mechanical strength. Biological efficacy on both biodegradable mats was assessed by rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and polycaprolactone–polyethylene glycol methyl ether showed feasibility for use as an inner layer by inducing endothelial-specific gene expression and polycaprolactone–chitosan as an outer layer on dual layered without sacrificing tensile strength, small-diameter blood vessels. Therefore, scaffolds fabricated from this research could be potential sources for tissue-engineered vascular graft and could also overcome the well-known drawbacks, such as thrombogenicity and stenosis, in managing vascular disease.

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