Structure–property relationships and biocompatibility of carbohydrate crosslinked polyurethanes

• Carbohydrates used as crosslinkers for synthesis of polyurethanes.
• Glucose, sucrose, starch and cellulose served as efficient crosslinkers.
• Wide spectrum of properties achieved by varying crosslinker and polyol.
• Reasonable thermal stability and minimum swelling in water.
• Strategy for high mechanical performance, biodegradability and biocompatibility.

Biocompatible and biodegradable polyurethanes (PUs) based on castor oil and polypropylene glycols (PPGs) were prepared using various carbohydrate crosslinkers: monosaccharide (glucose), disaccharide (sucrose) and polysaccharides (starch and cellulose). The mechanical and thermal properties were investigated and interpreted on the basis of SEM study. The advantage of incorporating various carbohydrates is to have tunable mechanical properties and biodegradability due to variety in their structure. The glass transition temperature and sorption behavior were dominated by the type of polyol than by the type of crosslinker. All the PUs were observed to be biodegradable as well as non-cytotoxic as revealed by MTT assay in normal lung cell line L132. The study supports the suitability of carbohydrates as important components of biocompatible PUs for development of biomedical devices.