The preparation of high conversion polymeric systems containing eugenol residues and their rheological characterization

摘要

Copolymeric systems bearing eugenol covalentlyudlinked to the macromolecular chains have beenudprepared and characterised in terms of thermal, rheologicaludand in vitro behaviour. Eugenyl methacrylate (EgMA) andudethoxyeugenyl methacrylate (EEgMA) were polymerizedudand copolymerized with ethyl methacrylate (EMA) in audwide range of feed composition by bulk at high conversion.udGlass transition temperature (Tg) increased with the contentudof EgMA in the copolymer whereas Tg decreased withudthe content of EEgMA. The presence of any of the eugenyludmonomers in the copolymer increased the thermal stabilityudof the materials. Rheological analysis showed that EMAco-udEgMA copolymers present a higher density of crosslinkingudor entanglements among the chains compared withudEMA-co-EEgMA materials, and copolymers containingudmore than 40% EgMA exhibited a pseudo-solid likeudbehaviour with G0 relatively independent of the frequency.udThe average molecular weight between cross-links (Mc) forudthe latter copolymers was in the order of 104 Da. ForudEEgMA copolymers, tan d was lower than unity and G0udshowed a gradual and slight dependency with frequencyudover the whole range of composition. In vitro behaviourudshowed a higher hydrophilicity of the EEgMA containingudcopolymers manifested in higher water sorption values,udlower water contact angle values and higher surface freeudenergy due to an increase in polarity. All systems presenteduda good cytocompatibility with human fibroblasts assessedudthrough direct and indirect assays.