Degradable Porous Scaffolds from Various l-Lactide and Trimethylene Carbonate Copolymers Obtained by a Simple and Effective Method

Abstract

A simple and effective method of fabricating scaffolds with open pore structures was successfully used on several copolymers. The method, which is straightforward and fast, was developed to overcome problems such as low pore interconnectivity and to achieve thick three-dimensional scaffolds. Copolymers are of particular interest because it is possible to tune their mechanical and degradable properties, and in this work, copolymers of L-lactide (LLA) and trimethylene carbonate (TMC) were synthesized through ring-opening polymerization. The copolymers formed had molecular weights ranging from close to 60000 g/mol to over 300000 g/mol and they were composed of 12-55 molar percentages of TMC and 88-45 molar percentages of LLA. The synthesized copolymers were evaluated as scaffold materials using a combined phase separation and particulate leaching technique, in which sugar templates were used as the leachable porosifiers. Differences in molecular weights, molar compositions, and degrees of crystallinity were all factors that influenced the properties of the prepared scaffolds. The copolymers with high LLA contents and high degrees of crystallinity were best suited for the scaffold fabrication technique used and gave degradable scaffolds with interconnected pores.