Porous polymer materials have become a crucial tissue engineering and biomaterial scaffold type. This is due to the wide variety of compositions, which in turn allows for tunable physical and chemical properties, allowing for customization to meet application/device-specific requirements. A recent addition to porous biomaterials are shape memory poly(β-hydroxythioether) (SMPHTE) foams, which may be produced using epoxy-thiol organobase-catalyzed “click” reactions. Our SMPHTEs were produced using three techniques: physical foam blowing, salt template-leaching, and high internal phase emulsion templating, allowing for tunable physical morphologies with pore diameters ranging from greater than 1 mm to ~1 µm.. The porous media can be formed within approximately 5 mins of synthesis, with resultant SMPHTEs displaying gel fractions greater than 93% and ultralow densities (&lt;0.022 g × cm<sup>-3</sup>). Through composition tuning, thermomechanical properties may be tailored to customize the material to be more rigid or more elastomeric depending on the application. SMPHTE were screened in 2D and 3D using murine cells, followed by subcutaneous implantation in a murine model over 6 weeks, allowing for screening of cyto- and biocompatibility. The translational potential of these materials is further explored with an eye towards implantable tissue scaffolds for soft tissue repair.

Porous shape memory poly(β-hydroxythioether) foams for tissue engineering

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