Amino alcohol-based degradable poly(ester amide) elastomers

Currently available synthetic biodegradable elastomers are primarily composed of crosslinked aliphatic polyesters, which suffer from deficiencies including (1) high crosslink densities, which results in exceedingly high stiffness, (2) rapid degradation upon implantation, or (3) limited chemical moieties for chemical modification. Herein, we have developed poly(1,3-diamino-2-hydroxypropane-co-polyol sebacate)s, a new class of synthetic, biodegradable elastomeric poly(ester amide)s composed of crosslinked networks based on an amino alcohol. These crosslinked networks feature tensile Young's modulus on the order of 1 MPa and reversable elongations up to 92%. These polymers exhibit in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility. These polymers have projected degradation half-lives up to 20 months in vivo. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.