ANALYSIS OF A VINYL PYRROLIDONE POLY(PROPYLENE FUMARATE) RESORBABLE BONE-CEMENT

A resorbable bone cement was formulated from N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone ( VP), the unsaturated polyester poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF), and the inorganic filler tribasic calcium phosphate (hydroxy apatite). Cure, initiated by benzoyl peroxide and accelerated by N,N-dimethyl-p-toluid ine, resulted in the formation of VP crosslinks between polyester chai ns. During cure the cement hardened from a viscous moldable putty to a rigid structure with a shore D hardness of 50-60. The purpose of this study was to determine the fractions of PPF and VP incorporated into the crosslinked structure. Dissolution of the cured cement in water fo llowed by extraction of the residue in tetrahydrofuran indicated that over 90% of the PPF was crosslinked over the range of PPF/VP ratios ex plored, but that the fraction of VP used in formation of crosslinks de pended linearly on the PPF/VP ratio. Kinetic analysis of these data su ggests that k'(pp)/k(pf) (the reactivity ratio) was similar to 2.0 whe re k'(pp) is the rate constant for the addition of VP radical to VP mo nomer leading to formation of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), and k(pf) is fo r the addition of VP radical to PPF unsaturation. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.