New matrix resins for glass polyalkenoates or glass-ionomers with pendant amino acid residues

The monomers N-acryloyl (AGA) and N-methacryloylglutamic acid (MGA) have been prepared and copolymerized with acrylic acid (AA) and itaconic acid (IA) to make polyelectrolytes for evaluation in glass polyalkenoates or glass-ionomers. It was shown that poly(AA-co-IA-co-AGA) and poly(AA-co-IA-co-MGA), having a monomers ratio, respectively, of 7:3:3 could be formulated with glass powders used in Fuji II (GC America), alpha-Silver (DMG-Hamburg), alpha-Fil (DMG-Hamburg) and Ketac-Molar (ESPE, Seefeld, Germany) to produce conventional glass-ionomers with improved compressive strength (CS), flexural strength (FS) and fracture toughness (FT), compared to Fuji II, alpha-Silver, alpha-Fil and Ketac-Molar controls. Since MGA is much easier to produce in high yields than AGA, it was important to show that MGA could be used as well as AGA to produce new matrix resins for glass-ionomers. Furthermore, we demonstrated that both the 7:3:3 AGA and MGA copolymers could be reacted with 2-isocyanatoethyl methacrylate (IEM) to produce intermediates useful for formulating visible light-curable (VLC) glass-ionomers with improved CS, FS and FT, compared to two commercial VLC materials Fuji II(TM) LC and Vitremer(TM) Tricure. Here again, it was found that MGA could be used as well as AGA to prepare improved materials. We also demonstrated that poly(AA-co-MGA) could be used to formulate glass-ionomers with improved properties. Further, we demonstrated that small amounts of MGA could be used as a reactive diluent in VLC formulations such as Fuji II(TM) LC, Vitremer(TM) Tricure, and an experimental VLC formulation to improve their mechanical properties, adhesion to tooth structure, and fluoride release.