Polymer Science Commons^™

Cellulose Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites By In-Situ Ring-Opening Polymerization, Shahab Kashani Rahimi

Dissertations

Over the past two decades, the increasing concern about the negative environmental impacts of synthetic materials has led to rising interests in utilizing renewable natural resources to develop polymer materials with comparable properties and performance to their synthetic counterparts. One of the major fields of interest is polymer composites where the replacement of synthetic fibers with bio renewable natural fibers is of great potential. However, the processing difficulties, in terms of fiber dispersion and thermal stability have limited the application of cellulosic fibers to polymers with low processing temperatures which are mostly hydrophobic polymers. As a result, the true reinforcing …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Poly(Simvastatin) - Incorporated Copolymers And Blends For Bone Regeneration, Theodora Asafo-Adjei

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Common biodegradable polyesters such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) are used as drug delivery vehicles for tissue regenerative applications. However, they are typically bioinert, with drug loading limitations. Polymerizing the active agent or precursor into its respective biodegradable polymer would control drug loading via molar ratios of drug to initiator used for synthesis. Simvastatin was chosen due to its favorable anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, and osteogenic properties. In addition, its lactone ring lends itself to ring-opening polymerization and, consequently, the synthesis of poly(simvastatin) with controlled simvastatin release.

Simvastatin was first polymerized with a 5kDa methyl-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) …