Synthesis of Low Viscosity Polydimethylsiloxane Using Low Grade of Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane

Abstract

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been widely used as a vitreous humour substitution in vitreoretinal surgery. Due to its limited availability and increasing domestic needs, the price of PDMS in Indonesia became very expensive. Previously, we reported the synthesized of PDMS from a high grade of monomer of 98% of Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and found that all PDMS samples produced high quality samples similar to that of commercial one. However, by considering the ease of obtaining raw materials and also the production costs, the synthesis of PDMS using monomer which easy to be found in Indonesia and low production costs is needed to be developed. Here, we reported the synthesis of PDMS using low grade of 96% of D4 in order to produce high quality of PDMS with low viscosity that can be used for vitreous humous substitution in vitreoretinal surgery. PDMS samples with low viscosity value of 0.94-1.35 Pa.s have been successfully synthesized from low grade of D4 and MM using ring-opening polymerization method. The yields of PDMS resulted in this research were in the range between 67.27% and 76.26%. From FTIR spectroscopy, it is found that all synthesized samples have structure and functional groups similar to PDMS using high grade of monomer of 98% Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4). From refractometer and surfgauge measurements, all samples have refractive index in the range of 1,4034-1,4040 and the value surface tension was 21 m.N/m.