Design and characterization of biodegradable macroporous hybrid inorganic-organic polymer for orthopedic applications.

We have engineered hybrid polymer products based on a hybrid inorganic-organic comacromer consisting of hydroxyapatite (HA), carboxyl terminated polypropylene fumarate (CTPPF), PEG300 and ascorbic acid (AA) as a bone graft material. The integration and the spatial distribution of HA in the polymer backbone were facilitated by silanisation and 1-ethyl-3-(-3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) coupling technique. These comacromers and crosslinked polymer products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman mapping techniques.