Methods for the chemical analysis of degradable synthetic polymeric biomaterials

The performance of biodegradable polymeric systems strongly depends on their physical as well as on their chemical properties. Therefore, detailed chemical analysis of such systems is essential. Enzymatic and chemical hydrolysis are the primary biodegradation mechanisms for these materials. This review provides an overview of the strategies and analytical methods used for the structural and compositional chemical analysis of nondegraded, partially degraded, and fully degraded synthetic polymeric biomaterials with an emphasis on modern solution-based techniques that yield large amounts of information. The degradation methods that facilitate the study of polymeric networks are also described.