Synthesis and cross-linking of modified liquid crystalline cellulose derivative for shape memory properties

Thermoresponsive shape memory polymers (SMPs) are a class of smart materials that can return from a temporary to a permanent shape with the application of heat. In this study, we have prepared novel biological friendly polymer network based on an amphiphilic graft copolymers, hydroxypropyl cellulose-graft-poly (ε-caprolactone) (HPC-g-PCL) in two step method. First a series of graft copolymers with different molecular weight of PCL were prepared through adjusting the ratio between HPC and CL in the reaction mixture by a bulk polymerization without a catalyst. The graft length of PCL was estimated by 1HNMR. Then polymer networks was obtained by cross-linking HPC-CL with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) with different crosslinking density. The thermal properties, XRD, mechanical strength and shape memory property of these polymers were investigated. As HPC and PCL are both biodegradable and biocompatible materials, this new polymer has potential application in biomedical field, like biomedical suture, which would be further studied in the future

کلیدواژه ها:

Shape memory polymers ، thermoresponsive ، liquid crystal ، polysaccharide ، -caprolactone