Thomas, VJayabalan, M2012-12-042012-12-042001JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS RESEARCH. 56; 1; 144-157http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1097-4636(200107)56:1<144https://dspace.sctimst.ac.in/handle/123456789/1099The effect of virtual crosslinking on the hydrolytic stability of completely aliphatic novel poly(urethane ureas), HFL9-PU1 (hard-segment content 57.5%) and HFL13-PU2 (hard-segment content 67.9%) based on 4,4'-methylene bis(cyclohexyl isocyanate) (H12MDI)-hydroxyterminated polybutadiene-1,6-hexamethylene diamine, was studied. Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total refectance and wide-angle X-ray diffraction studies revealed hydrogen-bonding interaction and microphase separation and formation of crystallites by short- and long-range ordering in hard-segment domains. Three-dimensional net-works from hydrogen bonding in the present polymers lead to virtually crosslinking and insolubility. These polymers were noncytotoxic to L929 fibroblast cells. The hemolytic potential is below the accepted limit. The studies on in vitro biostability in Ringer's solution, phosphate buffered saline, and papain enzyme revealed no weight loss. The infrared spectral studies revealed changes in the surface, especially on HFL9-PU1 aged in Ringer's solution and phosphate buffered saline, and no changes when aged in papain. The marginal changes noticed in tensile properties were attributed to the changes in degree of hydrogen bonding and associated rearrangement of molec;lar structure in the bulk. The results revealed that the lesser the crosslinking in virgin polymer, the higher the crosslinking in aged polymer and vice verse. Increased crosslinking during aging provided increased tensile properties in the aged polymer over the virgin polymer and vice versa. For comparison, an aliphatic polyetherurethane urea (HFL16-PU3) was also synthesized using poly(oxy tetra methylene glycol) in addition to the above reactants. Though both HFL9-PU1 and HFL16-PU3 contained the same hard-segment content, the aged sample of the latter showed decreased tensile properties with increased crosslinking during aging in contrast to the former. This was attributed to less microphase separation in the virgin HFL16-PU3 polymer. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Biocompatibility