Influence of PEG molecular masses on electrospinning of new multiblock terpoly(ester-ether-ester)s

Abstract

With the growing progress in tissue engineering, the search for new scaffolding materials has recently intensified considerably. Focusing on this, we synthesized hydrophilic-hydrophobic terpolymers containing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and two different polyester units: butylene terephthalate and butylene linoleate. The spinnability of the materials was verified by the electrospinning process. The influence of different molecular masses of PEG on thermal and mechanical properties as well as on electrospinning of new terpoly (ester-ether-ester) elastomeric materials was investigated. The thermal properties data revealed the crystallization of soft segments in materials containing PEG of high molecular mass (4600 g/mol). Increased crystallinity contributed to increased mechanical properties of terpolymers. We also investigated the effect of the temperature transitions and the degree of crystallinity on the electrospinning process for nanofiber preparation. It was found that polymers containing crystallizable soft segments of PEG 4600 are more suitable for electros-pinning compared to terpolymers (TEEE) containing PEG 1000. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.