Effects of Terminal Sterilization on PEG-Based Bioresorbable Polymers Used in Biomedical Applications

Divya Bhatnagar, Koustubh Dube, Vinod B. Damodaran, Ganesan Subramanian, Kenneth Aston, Frederick Halperin, Meiyu Mao, Kurt Pricer, N. Sanjeeva Murthy, Joachim Kohn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of ethylene oxide (EO), vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP), gamma (γ) radiation, and electron-beam (E-beam) on the physiochemical and morphological properties of medical device polymers are investigated. Polymers with ether, carbonate, carboxylic acid, amide and ester functionalities are selected from a family of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) containing tyrosine-derived polycarbonates (TyrPCs) to include slow, medium, fast, and ultra-fast degrading polymers. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is used for comparison. Molecular weight (Mw) of all tested polymers decreases upon gamma and E-beam, and this effect becomes more pronounced at higher PEG content. Gamma sterilization increases the glass transition temperature of polymers with high PEG content. EO esterifies the carboxylic acid groups in desaminotyrosol-tyrosine (DT) and causes significant degradation. VHP causes hydroxylation of the phenyl ring, and hydrolytic degradation. This study signifies the importance of the chemical composition when selecting a sterilization method, and provides suggested conditions for each of the sterilization methods. (Figure presented.).

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)1211-1224
Number of pages14
JournalMacromolecular Materials and Engineering
Volume301
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2016

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Polymers and Plastics
  • Materials Chemistry

Keywords

  • biodegradable
  • biomaterials
  • poly(ethylene glycol)
  • sterilization
  • structure–property relations

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