SYNTHESIS AND PHASE BEHAVIOR OF POLYURETHANES END-CAPPED WITH FLUORINATED PHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE HEAD GROUPS

A series of fluorinated phosphatidylcholine polyurethane macromolecular additives were synthesized by solution polymerization using methylenebis(phylene isocyanates) (MDI) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) as hard segments, a new phoshporycholine, 2-(2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9-hexadecafluoro-10-(2-hydroxyethoxy)decyloxy) ethyl phosphorycholine (HDFOPC) as end-capper, and four polydiols, poly(tetramethylene glycol)s (PTMG), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), poly(1,6-hexyl-1,5-pentylcarbonate) (PHPC) and poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) as soft segments, respectively. The chemical structures of the synthesized polyurethanes were characterized by 1H-NMR and FTIR. DSC and DMA were employed to study the phase behavior of these novel polyurethanes due to their great influences on the surface properties, and hence their interactions with bio-systems. The results showed that phase separation of the fluorinated phosphatidylcholine end-capped polyurethanes was increased in comparison with that of normal polyurethanes. The effect of fluorinated phosphatidylcholine end-capped groups on the phase behavior was further demonstrated by analyzing the degree of hydrogen-bonding between hard and soft segments.