Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Microwave-assisted Functionalization of Polyethylene glycol and On-resin Peptides for Use in Chain Polymerizations and Hydrogel Formation
Published on: October 29, 2013
Time Dependence of Material Properties of Polyethylene Glycol Hydrogels Chain Extended with Short Hydroxy Acid
Danial Barati1, Seyedsina Moeinzadeh1, Ozan Karaman1
1Biomimetic Materials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Abstract:
The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of chemical composition and segment number (n) on gelation, stiffness, and degradation of hydroxy acid-chain-extended star polyethylene glycol acrylate (SPEXA) gels. The hydroxy acids included glycolide (G,), L-lactide (L), p-dioxanone (D) and -caprolactone (C). Chain-extension generated water soluble macromers with faster gelation rates, lower sol fractions, higher compressive moduli, and a wide-ranging degradation times when crosslinked into a hydrogel. SPEGA gels with the highest fraction of inter-molecular crosslinks had the most increase in compressive modulus with n whereas SPELA and SPECA had the lowest increase in modulus. SPEXA gels exhibited a wide range of degradation times from a few days for SPEGA to a few weeks for SPELA, a few months for SPEDA, and many months for SPECA. Marrow stromal cells and endothelial progenitor cells had the highest expression of vasculogenic markers when co-encapsulated in the faster degrading SPELA gel.
More Related Videos
11:32Characteristics of Precipitation-formed Polyethylene Glycol Microgels Are Controlled by Molecular Weight of Reactants
Published on: December 23, 2013
12:07Fabricating Degradable Thermoresponsive Hydrogels on Multiple Length Scales via Reactive Extrusion, Microfluidics, Self-assembly, and Electrospinning
Published on: April 16, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Chain Branching
Anionic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism
Step-Growth Polymerization: Overview
Many natural and synthetic polymers are produced by...
Polymer Classification: Architecture
Molecular Weight of Step-Growth Polymers
As the step-growth polymerization involves step-wise condensation of monomers, the molecular weight also builds up eventually. Consequently, high molecular weight polymers are obtained at the late stages of the polymerization, where 99% of monomers have been consumed.
The extent of the...
Cationic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism