Synthesis of epoxidized natural rubber grafted with hyaluronic acid for the development of biomaterials

Natural Rubber (NR), extracted from Hevea brasiliensis rubber trees, is a biocompatible biopolymer with properties that support in the tissue repair process. However, its biomedical applications are limited due to the presence of allergenic proteins, hydrophobicity, and unsaturated bonds. To overcome these limitations and contribute to the development of new biomaterials, this study aims to deproteinize, epoxidize, and subject NR to copolymerization by grafting with hyaluronic acid (HA), which is widely recognized for its bioactive properties in the medical field. The deproteinization, epoxidation, and graft copolymerization through the esterification reaction were confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Hydrogen Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy analysis. Thermogravimetry and Differential Scanning Calorimetry demonstrated that the grafted sample exhibited a lower degradation rate and a higher glass transition temperature, indicating strong intermolecular interactions. Moreover, contact angle measurement revealed that the grafted NR exhibited a high hydrophilic character. The results obtained suggest the formation of a novel material with great potential for application in biomaterials involved in tissue repair processes.

Post-chemical grafting poly(methyl methacrylate) to commercially renewable elastomer as effective modifiers for polylactide blends

A novel poly(epichlorohydrin-co-ethylene oxide)-g-poly(methyl methacrylate) copolymer (ECO-g-PMMA) was successfully synthesized from a commercially renewable elastomer via the ATRP method. The graft copolymer was investigated as a toughening agent and compatibilizer for polylactide (PLA) and PLA/ECO blends, respectively. Binary blending PLA with the copolymers (5-15 wt%) significantly improved the strain at break of PLA above 200% without a great strength loss. More importantly, the ternary PLA/ECO/ECO-g-PMMA copolymer blends exhibited a remarkably high impact strength of 96.9 kJ/m² with non-broken behaviors. An interesting phase structure transformation from a typical sea-island structure to a unique quasi-continuous network structure was observed with varying the content of ECO-g-PMMA from 0 to 15 wt% in the ternary blends. The native toughening mechanism analysis indicated the synergistic toughening effect of the good interfacial adhesion and unique quasi-continuous morphology endowed the ternary blends with excellent mechanical performance.

Improvement of Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Vietnam Deproteinized Natural Rubber via Graft Copolymerization with Methyl Methacrylate

In this study, we investigated the improvement of the thermal and mechanical properties of Vietnam deproteinized natural rubber (DPNR) via graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA). The graft copolymerization was achieved successfully in latex stage using tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHPO) and tetra-ethylenepentamine (TEPA) as radical initiators at 30°C. By grafting with various MMA feeds and initiator concentration of 6.6×10−5 mol/g-rubber, the highest grafting efficiency and conversion were achieved at MMA of 15 wt.% per kg of rubber, 68% and 90%, respectively. The structure of grafted copolymers was characterized by 1H NMR, FTIR-ATR, and GPC, and thermal properties were investigated through DSC and TGA measurements. These showed that graft copolymers were more stable and rigid than DPNR. Storage modulus (G′) of graft copolymer was found to double that of DPNR, which contributed to the formation of graft copolymer. After sulfur vulcanization, the mechanical properties of DPNR-graft-PMMA, such as tensile strength, tear strength, and hardness, were improved significantly. Curing behaviors of the graft copolymers were found to be remarkably better than virgin DPNR.

Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Vietnam Modified Natural Rubber via Grafting with Styrene

The dynamic mechanical behavior of modified deproteinized natural rubber (DPNR) prepared by graft copolymerization with various styrene contents was investigated at a wide range of temperatures. Graft copolymerization of styrene onto DPNR was performed in latex stage using tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHPO) and tetraethylene pentamine (TEPA) as redox initiator. The mechanical properties were measured by tensile test and the viscoelastic properties of the resulting graft copolymers at wide range of temperature and frequency were investigated. It was found that the tensile strength depends on the grafted polystyrene; meanwhile the dynamic mechanical properties of the modification of DPNR meaningfully improved with the increasing of both homopolystyrene and grafted polystyrene compared to DPNR. The dynamic mechanical properties of graft copolymer over a large time scale were studied by constructing the master curves. The value of bT has been used to prove the energetic and entropic elasticity of the graft copolymer.