Poly(phosphoester) Biomaterials

Significance

Polymers that respond to their environment and are biologically compatible are important for emerging medical applications. Materials that respond to temperature and other solutes in aqueous environments are of particular interest and this field has been dominated by poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), which displays a lower solution critical temperature. In this process the polymers are soluble due to strong hydrogen bonding at lower temperatures and with increasing temperature the hydrogen bonds are weakened. This causes the polymer to precipitate and the less organizationally dependent hydrophobic interactions between the isopropyl units dominate. The poly(phosphoesters) shown display similar behavior, but offer the new advantage that they can be degraded by slow hydrolysis and enzymatic digestion.