Inorganic-organic hydrogels with tunable properties

POLY 535

Yaping Hou, yaping.hou@neo.tamu.edu1, Katherine R. Regan2, Cody A. Schoener, codester1985@neo.tamu.edu1, Mariah S. Hahn, mariah.hahn@chemail.tamu.edu3, and Melissa A. Grunlan, mgrunlan@tamu.edu1. (1) Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 337 Zachry Engineering Center, College Station, 77843-3120, (2) Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, P.O. Box 30012, College Station, TX 77842-3012, (3) Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, 77843
Novel inorganic-organic hydrogels were prepared by incorporation of an inorganic macromer, methacrylated star polydimethylsiloxane (PDMSstar-MA), with acrylate-terminated linear poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-DA). The alterations in hydrogel mechanical properties and swelling behavior were examined. The mechanical properties and swelling behavior or these inorganic-organic hydrogels may be tuned by varying the ratio of the two components. In particular, the elasticity of these hydrogels may be tailored to achieve the desired behavior critical for engineering of soft tissues such as blood vessels. This synthetic strategy will allow the preparation of a library of hydrogels whose mechanical properties may be correlated with specific cell behavior.
 

Scaffolds and Matrices for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Applications
8:30 AM-11:40 AM, Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Westin Boston Waterfront -- Grand Ballroom B, Oral

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007