Screening the ability of novel biosourced polyurethanes for skin tissue engineering

The novel alginate-based cationic polyurethanes were synthesized through the polyaddition reaction of aliphatic NCO-terminated prepolymers and modified alginate under catalyst-free conditions. The chemical reaction of insoluble sodium alginate in organic solvents with isocyanate groups was facilitated through changing the alginate hydrophobicity using a tertiary aliphatic amine. The completion of the reaction was monitored by disappearing the isocyanate band in FTIR spectroscopy. Further characterizations were performed to confirm the chemical structure of synthesized samples using 1H NMR and TGA. The biocompatibility of synthesized polymers was confirmed by cytotoxicity and MTS assays. Furthermore, the DAPI staining of fixed fibroblast cells was performed to determine the cells affinity to the surface of Alg-based PUs.