Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Well-Defined Poly(propylene fumarate) Oligomers and Their Use in 3D Printed Scaffolds

A ring opening polymerization method for synthesizing oligomeric poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF) provides a rapid, and scalable method of synthesizing PPF with well-defined molecular mass, molecular mass distribution (Đm), and viscosity properties suitable for 3D printing. These properties will also reduce the amount of solvent necessary to ensure sufficient flow of material during 3D printing. MALDI mass spectrometry precisely shows the end group fidelity, and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) demonstrates narrow mass distributions (<1.6) of a series of low molecular mass oligomers (700-3000 Da). The corresponding intrinsic viscosities range from 0.0288 ± 0.0009 dL/g to 0.0780 ± 0.0022 dL/g. The oligomers were printed into scaffolds via established photochemical methods and standardized ISO 10993-5 testing shows that the 3D printed materials are nontoxic to both L929 mouse fibroblasts and human mesenchymal stem cells.