Electrospinning of plant oil‐based, non‐isocyanate polyurethanes for biomedical applications

Abstract

Non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPU) have rapidly emerged as a sustainable, less toxic, and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional isocyanate-based thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) synthesis. TPU is widely used in the medical industry due to its excellent mechanical properties and elasticity. However, little work has been done to synthesize and electrospin NIPU into fibrous mats for biomedical applications. In this work, melt polymerization of a plant oil-based cyclic carbonate monomer with polyether soft segments and various diamines yielded isocyanate-free, segmented poly(amide hydroxyurethane)s (PAHUs). Electrospinning of segmented PAHUs afforded ductile, free-standing fibrous mats with Young's modulus values between 7 and 8 MPa, suitable for tissue scaffold applications. PAHU fiber mats exhibited 3-4 times greater water uptake than the electrospun TPU control, demonstrating potential utility in drug delivery. Fibroblasts adhered to electrospun PAHU fibrous mats with viability values over 90% after 72-h, validating its biocompatibility. The results highlight the high performance and potential of electrospun isocyanate-free polyurethanes mats for biomedical application.

Novel Electrospun Pullulan Fibers Incorporating Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin: Morphology and Relation with Rheological Properties

“…The divergence of diameters is due to the different solvents used and electrospinning process variables. Since water was used as a solvent in our study, the high surface tension of the aqueous solutions might be another factor responsible for the obtained fiber sizes [42]. Our results correlate with previous studies showing the formation of uniform nanofibers from pure solutions of pullulan at concentrations of 15% (w/v) and beyond when water was used as a solvent [40].…”

Degradation and stabilization of polyurethane elastomers

“…However, most of the non-isocyanate PU systems developed so far do not offer the advantages of rapid reaction at room temperature from liquid, low-viscosity precursors, industrial viability for both small-scale in-field applications and large-scale industrial applications without generating sideproducts, and the ability to form elastomeric materials that have a combination of appropriate elongation and tensile strength [99,103]. While a few non-isocyanate PU elastomers have been reported [94,96,98,99,109,111,113], these new materials have not been fully characterized yet,…”

Biobased polyurethanes for biomedical applications

“…Neat gelatin was fully degraded in 3 h against more than 7 days for the blend. More recently, NIPU fibers were also successfully electrospun into a fibrous mat [ 207 ], from which the obtained materials are presented in Fig. 7 .…”