1. Departments of Bioengineering and Surgery, and the McGowan Institute, University of Pittsburgh, 3700 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA;2. Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Ninth Peoples' Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, 639 Zhizaoju Rd, Shanghai 200011, China
Abstract:
Synthetic biodegradable polymers are important biomaterials. However, most of them are biologically inert. Free functional groups can allow easy biofunctionalization. Efficient introduction of functional groups to biodegradable polymers is still a challenge. Here, a practical strategy is presented to synthesize various functional polyesters with free hydroxyl groups polymerized via epoxide ring‐opening polymerization between dicarboxylic acids and diglycidyl dicarboxylates without protection and deprotection. The polymers exhibit a wide range of physical, thermal, and mechanical properties, and good cytocompatibilities. This synthetic platform is expected to lead to functional polymers useful for a wide variety of biomedical applications.
