Abstract
Electrospun scaffolds of neat poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL), poly-ε-caprolactone/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex (PCL/β-CD) and poly-ε-caprolactone amino derivative inclusion complex (PCL/β-CD-NH2) were prepared by the electrospinning technique. The obtained mats were analyzed by a theoretical model using the Hartree–Fock method with an STO-3G basis set, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), confocal-Raman spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) and contact angle measure (CA). Different mixtures of solvents, such as dimethylformamide (DMF)-tetrahydrofuran (THF), dichlormethane (DCM)-dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol (TFE), were tested in the fiber preparation. The results indicate that electrospun nanofibers have a pseudorotaxane structure and when it was prepared using a 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol (TFE) as solvent, the nanofibers were electrospun well and, with the other solvents, fibers present defects such as molten fibers and bead-like defects into the fiber structure. This work provides insights into the design of PCL/β-CD-NH2 based scaffolds that could have applications in the biomedical field.
Highlights
Electrospinning is a robust, easy and non-expensive method that has become very popular in recent years because of its versatility for spinning different kinds of polymers, natural and synthetic, with tunable properties such as highly superficial area, size and pore structure
The results showed nanofibers with an average diameter of 400 nm increasing with the amount of cyclodextrins, and the PCL/CD composites exhibited higher crystallization temperatures and sharper crystallization exotherms with increased CD loading, representing the capability of CDs to nucleate PCL crystallization
The first stage of this work was the synthesis of the β-cyclodextrin amine derivative with a final yield after its purification of 0.4, which is in accordance with other works [27,28,29,30]
Summary
Electrospinning is a robust, easy and non-expensive method that has become very popular in recent years because of its versatility for spinning different kinds of polymers, natural and synthetic, with tunable properties such as highly superficial area, size and pore structure. The electrospinning technique has been used to produce fiber materials for diverse applications from electronics to biomedical applications studied [1,2]. PCL have properties like good solubility in many kinds of organic solvents, low melting point close to 60 ◦ C, and remarkable blend-compatibility that make it an excellent. PCL is biocompatible and a material that is very easy to handle and shape, its use in biological applications is limited by its hydrophobicity and lack of active sites. These would allow it to immobilize or to attach biomolecules that could interact positively with cells to enhance its properties for tissue engineering and drug delivery. Some of the applied strategies have included surface and polymer chemical modification, copolymerization of two or more polymers with incorporated nanoparticles, development of bicomponent fibers by coaxial electrospinning, as well as post-treatments and coating nanofibers with bioactive materials [4,5]
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