In vivo biocompatible shape memory polyester derived from recycled polycarbonate e-waste for biomedical application

From the last few decades, the usage of polycarbonate (PC) has tremendously increased due to its engineering properties such as outstanding mechanical strength, superior toughness, and good optical transparency. Owning to these properties, PC has widespread applications in the field of electronics, construction, data storage, automotive industry and subsequently resulted in an ever-increasing volume of post-consumer PC e-waste, which also increases the environmental pollution with time due to its nonbiodegradability nature. Therefore, recycling of PC has become a significant challenge throughout the globe. Herein, we first time reported synthesis of a family of low-cost biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymers using solvent and catalyst free melt polycondensation reaction of recycled PC e-waste derived monomer bis(hydroxyethyl ether) of bisphenol A (BHEEB) along with other renewable resources such as sebacic acid, citric acid and mannitol. The synthesis of the polyester was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, XRD and DSC. The mechanical properties and biodegradation behaviour of the polyester can be fine-tuned by simply varying the monomer feed ratio. In addition to that, the polyester demonstrated excellent shape memory property in ambient temperature along with outstanding recovery properties. In addition to this, the synthesized polyester showed exceptional in vitro and in vivo cytocompatibility as well as cell proliferation rate against mouse fibroblast cells (NIH-3 T3) and biocompatibility, respectively. Therefore, the novel polyesters derived from recycled PC e-waste may be potential resorbable biomaterial for tissue engineering applications in future.