Inverse Thermogelation of Aqueous Triblock Copolymer Solutions into Macroporous Shear-Thinning 3D Printable Inks

2020

Amphiphilic block copolymers that undergo (reversible) physical gelation in aqueous media are of great interest in ditIerent areas including drug delivery, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and biofabrication. We investigated a small library of ABA-type triblock copolymers comprising poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) as the hydrophilic shell A and different aromatic poly(2-oxazoline)s and poly(2-oxazine)s cores B in an aqueous solution at different concentrations and temperatures. Interestingly, aqueous solutions of poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline)-block-poly(2-phenyl-2-oxazine)-block-poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PMeOx-b-PPheOzi-b-PMeOx) undergo inverse thermogelation below a critical temperatur…