Synthesis, Characterization, Hydrolytic Degradation and Mathematical Modeling of Poly[bis(2(2-methoxyethoxyethoxy diethylamino)phosphazene]

The use of polymer-based polyphosphazene is increasing in biomedical industry due to their degradable nature, and their specific role can further be tailored by substituting the chloro groups in the linear precursor with suitable nucleophiles. In this study, we aimed to synthesize a novel degradable polymer based on polyphosphazene by derivatizing the linear poly(dichlorophosphazene) precursor with diethyl amine and 2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethanol. The structure of the synthesized polymer, poly[bis(2(2-methoxyethoxyethoxy diethylamino)phosphazene] (PMEEDEAP) was elucidated with 1H NMR and 31P NMR. The molar mass distribution and molecular weight of the synthesized polymers were assessed by employing GPC. The hydrolytic degradation, in vitro, of the polymer was carried out in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with pH ~ 7.0 and at 37 °C. The polymer showed a weight loss of 95% in 5 weeks. Current studies showed that the synthesized degradable polymer may further be subjected to in vivo studies and employed as a potential candidate for biomedical applications, i.e., controlled-drug delivery and tissue engineering. In addition, the experimental data were analyzed by graphical and statistical methods, and it was found that the weight loss of PMEEDEAP is linear function of time, i.e., wt=-1×10-3thr+1.068.\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ w_{t} = - 1 \times 10^{-3} \;t_{{\text{hr}}} + 1.068. $$\end{document} The value of the coefficient of determination (R2) is found to be 0.978, which indicates that the workability of the model is good.