earticle

영어

Biopolymer-based materials recently have garnered considerable interest as they can decrease dependency on fossil fuel. Biopolymers are naturally obtainable macromolecules including polysaccharides, polyphenols, polyesters, polyamides, and proteins, that play an important role in biomedical applications such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drug-delivery systems, and biosensors, because of their inherent biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, the insolubility of unmodified biopolymers in most organic solvents has limited the applications of biopolymer-based materials and composites. Ionic liquids (ILs) are good solvents for polar organic, nonpolar organic, inorganic and polymeric compounds. Biopolymers such as cellulose, chitin/chitiosan, silk, and DNA can be fabricated from ILs into films, membranes, fibers, spheres, and molded shapes. Various biopolymer/biopolymer and biopolymer/synthetic polymer composites also can be prepared by co-dissolution of polymers into IL mixtures. Heparin/biopolymer composites are especially of interest in preparing materials with enhanced blood compatibility.