Modification of Vinyl Polymers in the Prospect of Biodegradability and Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Vinyl Polymers form a larger series of polymer which have a scope of modification by crosslinking and grafting techniques. In this study PVA has been modified by using BPO as a cross linking agent. The crosslinking product so formed was grafted with acrylic acid and acrylamide. The grafting process was initiated by high temp, stirring and chemical treatment. After it new functional group (acrylamide or acrylic acid) has been added. It has been investigated by FT-IR and TGA .Different polymer blends were prepared successfully. Polymer blends of different vinyl polymer like PVC, PVA, PVP were prepared with cellulose, starch and PLA. These modified polymer have a potential to be used in biomedical field to make soft contact lenses, blood carrying bags, syringes etc. Modified PVA may also find a use in eye drop formulations. Formed modified PVA polymers have shown good swelling characteristics due to which they can be used in hydrogel formulations. Modified polymers were also used in blend formation and blend formations were found to be degradable. Due to biodegradable characteristics they have wide scope of applications. The product formed is more biodegradable as compared to parent polymer which was also a result of modification done by crosslinking and grafting. Modified Polymers have shown good absorption behavior in different acidic, alkaline or neutral conditions about 300 to 400% in different environment. Swelling properties and thermal stability of modified polymers make them suitable for biomedical field. Blends of PVA with cellulose, starch and PLA could be prepared easily. But blend formation of PVC and PVP were very hard to prepare due to insoluble character of PVC in water and most other solvents, by Soil burial test it was observed that biodegradation of blends compared to alone was faster. Biodegradation of PVP blend with PLA was about 9-10 % while PVC blend with PLA or cellulose about 3-5% in 6 months, which has shown some significant indication of degradation of hard polymer. newline