Structured surface is an important property of polymer biomaterials for tissue engineering, for its capacity to expose domains with different surface energy and functional groups. For this purpose, amphiphilic A-B-A block copolymers with polylactide (PLA) as A blocks and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO 3, Mn = 3090; PEO6, Mn = 6110) as B block were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of either L-lactide (L-LA) or DL-lactide (DL-LA), using poly(ethylene glycol)s as macroinitiators and tin(II) octanoate (Sn(Oct)2) as a catalyst. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and electron microscopy were used to study the phase separation of the hydrophobic (PLA) and hydrophilic (PEO) segments in films made of the copolymers and their blends with high-molecular-weight PLA homopolymers. Hydrophilic (PEO) and hydrophobic (PLA) domains were formed at the polymer film surface due to the separation of phases. The phase separation was affected by the copolymer composition and the stereoregularity of PLA blocks in the copolymers.
- MeSH
- Biocompatible Materials chemistry MeSH
- Microscopy, Electron MeSH
- Epoxy Compounds chemistry MeSH
- Chromatography, Gel MeSH
- Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy MeSH
- Microscopy, Electron, Scanning MeSH
- Polyesters chemistry MeSH
- Materials Testing MeSH
- Viscosity MeSH
- Structure-Activity Relationship MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Comparative Study MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Biocompatible Materials MeSH
- Epoxy Compounds MeSH
- PEO-poly(lactide) MeSH Browser
- Polyesters MeSH
