Degree
Master of Engineering Science
Program
Biomedical Engineering
Supervisor
Dr. Kibret Mequanint
Abstract
The development of new and improved biomaterials is essential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Amino acid-based polyphosphazenes are being explored as scaffold materials for tissue engineering applications due to their non-toxic degradation products and tunable material properties. This work focuses on the synthesis of non-functional and novel functional poly[(amino acid ester)phosphazene]s using a facile method of thermal ring opening polymerization followed by one-pot room temperature substitution. The family of polyphosphazenes developed in this work is based on L-alanine (PNEAs), L-phenylalanine (PNEFs), and L-methionine (PNEMs) with L-glutamic acid imparting the functionality. Characterization of these materials demonstrated that the one-pot substitution was successful in developing mono- and co-substituted poly[(amino acid ester)phosphazene]s. Cytotoxicity studies on two-dimensional films showed these materials to be compatible with NIH-3T3 fibroblasts over the five-day study. The PNEFs also showed significantly enhanced cell viability over tissue culture polystyrene at day 1 (p
Recommended Citation
Baillargeon, Amanda L., "Functional Co-substituted Poly[(amino acid ester)phosphazene] Biomaterials" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2249.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2249