Biodegradable supramolecular composites of poly(ε‐caprolactone) and low‐molecular‐weight organic gelators

Abstract

When a homogeneous hot liquid of poly(ecaprolactone) (PCL) with (R)-12-hydroxystearic acid (HSA) or N-carbobenzyloxy-L-isoleucylaminooctadecane (CIA) was gradually cooled to room temperature, the mixture became gelatinous material and then solidified to give a PCL/HSA or PCL/CIA composite. The rheological measurements of the mixtures of PCL with HSA and CIA revealed that the organogels are formed at around 70-50 C and 100-73 C during the cooling process, respectively. Furthermore, the formation of supramolecular fibrillar networks was confirmed by the microscopic and differential scanning calorimetric analyses. The tensile moduli of both the composites were improved by the addition of CIA and HSA. Both the composites showed so high biodegradability as PCL. The fibrillar networks of the composites were also regenerated during the repeated cooling process from the isotropic liquid.

Supramolecular composites of photo‐cured acrylated castor oil and fibers formed by the self‐assembly of low molecular weight organic gelators

“…Regarding the CO‐based green composites, Mistri et al reported the green composites composed of maleated CO and jute fibers [20]. We have also reported that the thermal and mechanical properties of CO‐modified ε‐caprolactone oligomer (CO‐PCL) and poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) are improved by forming the supramolecular fibrous network of bio‐based low molecular weight organic gelator (LMOG) such as ( R )‐12‐hydroxystearic acid (HSA) and N ‐carbobenzyloxy‐ L ‐isoleucylaminooctadecane (CIA) [21, 22]. In this study, the preparation and thermal and mechanical properties of photo‐cured ACO (cACO) composites with CIA or HSA are investigated in detail (Fig.…”