In vitro evaluation of thermal frontally polymerized thiol‐ene composites as bone augments

Abstract

Because of the large number of total knee replacement (TKR) surgeries conducted per year, and with projections of increased demand to almost a million primary TKR surgeries per year by 2030 in the United States alone, there is a need to discover more efficient working materials as alternatives to current bone cements. There is a need for surgeons and hospitals to become more efficient and better control over the operative environment. One area of inefficiency is the cement steps during TKR. Currently the surgeon has very little control over cement polymerization. This leads to an increase in time, waste, and procedural inefficiencies. There is a clear need to create an extended working time, moldable, osteoconductive, and osteoinductive bone augment as a substitution for the current clinically used bone cement where the surgeon has better control over the polymerization process. This study explored several compositions of pentaerythritol-co-trimethylolpropane tris-(3-mercaptopropionate) hydroxyapatite composite materials prepared via benzoyl peroxide-initiated thermal frontal polymerization. The 4:1 acrylate to thiol ratio containing augment material shows promise with a maximal propagation temperature of 160°C ± 10°C, with mechanical strength of 3.65 MPa, and 111% cytocompatibility, relative to the positive control. This frontally polymerized material may have application as an augment with controlled polymerization supporting cemented implants.

Synthesis and characterization of thiol‐acrylate hydrogels using a base‐catalyzed Michael addition for 3D cell culture applications

“…The rapid degradation and very low cellular viability in the molar ratio of hydrogels of 1.0 (F1, F3, and F5) indicate that it may be possible that ETTMP is not 100% pure, resulting in a not fully crosslinked hydrogel. This results in a potential remainder of excess acrylate groups that over time decomposes to acrylic acid, which can explain poor cell viability in both the 2D and 3D culture studies (Figures and , and Figures S4 and S6) (Totaro et al, ). Additionally, incubation of hydrogels in a buffer with a higher pH (DMEM) resulted in a faster degradation time, which can be attributed to increased ester hydrolysis at higher pH values (Rodriguez, Marcos, & Huneault, ).…”

Front velocity dependence on vinyl ether and initiator concentration in radical‐induced cationic frontal polymerization of epoxies

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Frontal polymerization (FP) was discovered by Chechilo and Enikolopyan 11 and studied in Russia by their group and others through the 1970s and 1980s. [12][13][14][15] It was rediscovered by Pojman and studied in the 1990s [16][17][18] and has seen recent rapid growth through applications such as composites, 19,20 cure-on demand materials and adhesives, 21,22 deep-eutectic solvents 23 and hydrogels. [24][25][26][27][28] In a thermal frontal polymerization process, an input of thermal energy at a specific area initiates a propagating localized reaction zone that travels through the entire material, where monomer is converted into polymer as propagation occurs.…”

Photoinduced cationic frontal polymerization of epoxy–carbon fibre composites

“…A suggested strategy to overcome this limitation is the use of the UV‐activated frontal polymerization (FP) technique . FP is a process that allows conversion of monomer to polymer by exploiting the exothermicity of polymerization reactions . The result is a localized thermal reaction zone that propagates through the photocurable formulation as a thermal wave; a hot propagation and self‐sustaining front can be observed.…”