Polyanhydrides are traditionally used as drug delivery vehicles due to their surface erosion property, which allows the release rate of the drug to occur at the rate of erosion of the polymer. The most commercially successful polyanhydrides are semicrystalline and are synthesized via melt condensation reactions that require high temperatures and vacuum.  Here we present a facile synthesis of semicrystalline polyanhydrides via thiol-ene photopolymerization.  These polyanhydrides may be used as pre-polymers that can further undergo chain extension or crosslinking.  These polymerizations are very fast (completed within minutes), use commercially available monomers and the polymers have thermal properties that are comparable to the previously developed polyanhydrides.   

Semicrystalline polyanhydrides synthesized from thiol-ene polymerization

247th National Meeting (2014)

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