Poly(l-lactide-co-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate): a biodegradable polymer with protein resistance

We have synthesized poly(l-lactide-co-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) (LA-co-MEO2MA) containing both degradable and protein resistant units via hybrid copolymerization with (1-tert-butyl-4,4,4-tris(dimethylamino)-2,2-bis[tris(dimethylamino)phophoranylidenamino]-2Λ5,Λ5-catenadi(phosphazene) (t-BuP4) as the catalyst. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) show that LA-co-MEO2MA is a random copolymer. The studies of quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) demonstrate that the copolymer enzymaticlly degrades much faster than poly(l-lactide) (PLA) homopolymer due to its lower crystallinity. We have also investigated the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA), lysozyme or fibrinogen on a LA-co-MEO2MA surface in real time by use of QCM-D and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Our studies reveal that the polymer is protein resistant depending on MEO2MA content. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay experiments demonstrate that the polymer has a low cytotoxicity.