Hydrogen-bonded supramolecular polymers with tunable material properties

Supramol. polymers with varying amts. of reversible crosslinks were produced by mixing bifunctional and trifunctional macromonomers in CCl3 soln. and evapg. the solvent. Homogeneous materials were obtained and no phase sepn. was obsd. at different ratios of the two macromonomers. The tensile strength of the materials was almost comparable to that of covalent polycaprolactone, and phys. and mech. properties of the materials were tuned by adjusting the ratio of trifunctional to bifunctional monomer. With increasing amt. of trifunctional crosslinker the material became stronger, more stiff and somewhat more brittle. The obsd. behavior is analogous to that of covalent polymers, in which the properties can also be tuned by changing the crosslink d. In supramol. polymers, tuning of the material properties can be achieved simply by blending two compds. and no addnl. synthesis is required. These polymers are easily processable also in crosslinked form, as the hydrogen bonding can be reversibly broken by raising the temp. The materials will be tested further for use in different applications, such as in scaffolds for tissue engineering. [on SciFinder (R)]