Preparation of Biodegradable Thermo-responsive Polyaspartamides with N-Isopropylamine Pendent Groups (I)

Novel amphiphilic, thermo-responsive polyaspartamides which showed both LCST (lower critical solution temperature), and sol-gel transition were prepared and characterized. The polyaspartamide derivatives were synthesized from polysuccinimide, the polycondensate of aspartic acid monomer, via successive nucleophilic ring-opening reaction by using dodecylamine and N-isopropylethylenediamine (NIPEDA). At the intermediate composition ranges, the dilute aqueous solution exhibited a thermally responsive phase separation due to the presence of LCST. The phase transition temperature was controllable by changing the content of pendent groups. In addition, a physical gelation, i.e. the sol-gel transition was observed from the concentrated solutions, which was elucidated by dynamic viscoelastic measurements. These novel injectable and thermo-responsive hydrogels have potential for various biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and current drug delivery system.