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Abstract
The synthesis of biodegradable bone cement compositions is presented. These bone cement
compositions can be applied as a putty-like mixture and harden to a strong material
in a bone fracture. They degrade from the site of application to allow the ingrowth
of new bone for complete healing of the bone fracture. The bone cement is composed
of a solid particulate phase dispersed in an initially liquid polymeric phase, which
can be hardened by cross-linking. The polymeric phase is a low-molecular-weight liquid
poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF) containing double bonds available for cross-linking.
The solid particulate phase consists of calcium carbonate and tricalcium phosphate.
PPF oligomers of Mw = 1800 and Mn = 750 were prepared from the condensation of non-volatile
bis(2-hydroxypropyl fumarate) and propylene-bis(hydrogen maleate) trimers. PPF terminated
divinyl and diepoxide derivatives were obtained from the reactions between PPF diol
and acryloyl chloride or epichlorhydrin, respectively. Putty-like cement compositions
were prepared from a mixture of 30 wt% polymer phase containing benzoyl peroxide-dimethyl
toluidine as polymerization catalyst and 70 wt% calcium salts. The divinyl and diepoxide
terminated PPF oligomers provided a high strength composition of between 30 and 129
MPa which is suitable for bone cement applications. In vitro hydrolysis of the composites
showed little weight loss with the compressive strength remaining above 20 MPa after
4 weeks in buffer solution. Compositions of the PPF oligomers cross-linked without
calcium salts showed a gradual weight loss (10-65 wt% after 4 weeks) when placed in
buffer solution followed by high water absorption (18-200 wt% after 4 weeks), with
the epoxide terminated PPF being the least to degrade or absorb water.