Polydioxanone - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Polydioxanone or poly-p-dioxanone is a colorless, crystalline

Crystallinity

Crystallinity refers to the degree of structural order in a solid. In a crystal, the atoms or molecules are arranged in a regular, periodic manner. The degree of crystallinity has a big influence on hardness, density, transparency and diffusion. In a gas, the relative positions of the atoms or...

, biodegradable

Biodegradation

Biodegradation or biotic degradation or biotic decomposition is the chemical dissolution of materials by bacteria or other biological means...

synthetic polymer

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...

Chemistry

Chemically, polydioxanone is a polymer of multiple repeating ether

Ether

Ethers are a class of organic compounds that contain an ether group — an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups — of general formula R–O–R'. A typical example is the solvent and anesthetic diethyl ether, commonly referred to simply as "ether"...

-ester

Ester

Esters are chemical compounds derived by reacting an oxoacid with a hydroxyl compound such as an alcohol or phenol. Esters are usually derived from an inorganic acid or organic acid in which at least one -OH group is replaced by an -O-alkyl group, and most commonly from carboxylic acids and...

units. It is obtained by ring-opening polymerization

Ring-opening polymerization

In polymer chemistry, ring-opening polymerization is a form of chain-growth polymerization, in which the terminal end of a polymer acts as a reactive center, where further cyclic monomers join to form a larger polymer chain through ionic propagation...

of the monomer p-dioxanone. The process requires heat and an organometallic catalyst like zirconium

Zirconium

Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name of zirconium is taken from the mineral zircon. Its atomic mass is 91.224. It is a lustrous, grey-white, strong transition metal that resembles titanium...

acetylacetone

Acetylacetone

Acetylacetone is an organic compound that famously exists in two tautomeric forms that rapidly interconvert. The less stable tautomer is a diketone formally named pentane-2,4-dione. The more common tautomer is the enol form. The pair of tautomers rapidly interconvert and are treated as a single...

or zinc

Zinc

Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...

L-lactate. It is characterized by a glass transition temperature in the range of −10 and 0 °C and a crystallinity of about 55%. For the production of sutures, polydioxanone is generally extruded

Extrusion

Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile. A material is pushed or drawn through a die of the desired cross-section...

into fiber

Fiber

Fiber is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together....

s, however care should be taken to process the polymer to the lowest possible temperature, in order to avoid its spontaneous depolymerization back to the monomer. The ether oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

group in the backbone of the polymer chain is responsible for its flexibility.

Medical use

Polydioxanone is used for biomedical applications, particularly in the preparation of surgical sutures. Other biomedical applications include orthopedics

Orthopedics

Orthopedics is the study of the musculoskeletal system. The Greek word 'ortho' means straight or correct and 'pedics' comes from the Greek 'pais' meaning children. For many centuries, orthopedists have been involved in the treatment of crippled children...

, plastic surgery

Plastic surgery

Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...

, drug delivery

Drug delivery

Drug delivery is the method or process of administering a pharmaceutical compound to achieve a therapeutic effect in humans or animals. Drug delivery technologies modify drug release profile, absorption, distribution and elimination for the benefit of improving product efficacy and safety, as well...

, cardiovascular applications, and tissue engineering

Tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...

.

It is degraded by hydrolysis, and the end products are mainly excreted in urine, the remainder being eliminated by digestive or exhaled as CO₂. The biomaterial is completely reabsorbed in 6 months and can be seen only a minimal foreign body reaction tissue in the vicinity of the implant. Materials made of PDS can be sterilized with ethylene oxide

Ethylene oxide

Ethylene oxide, also called oxirane, is the organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether. This means that it is composed of two alkyl groups attached to an oxygen atom in a cyclic shape . This colorless flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor is the simplest epoxide, a three-membered...

.

On the other hand, studies have shown the disadvantages of using PDS: no osteogenic properties, foreign body reactions, etc.

Chemistry

Medical use

See also