{"title":"FROM PLASTICS TO ADVANCED POLYMER IMPLANTS: THE ESSENTIALS OF POLYMER CHEMISTRY","authors":"J. Loo","doi":"10.1142/S0219607708000263","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Man has been using plastics for thousands of years, and some of the earlier uses of plastics include spoons, buttons and combs. Today, plastics are used for a myriad of applications, such as for aerospace, microelectronics and water purification. With polymer chemistry, man has been able to alter the properties of plastics or polymers to suit almost any application. Their properties can also be tailored for use as advanced biomedical implants in the human body. An example of such a polymer is the biocompatible lactide/glycolide polyesters. These biodegradable polymers are currently used as sutures, drug delivery systems, temporary implants and even as scaffolds for tissue engineering.","PeriodicalId":80753,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin - Cosmos Club. Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"48 1","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2008-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Bulletin - Cosmos Club. Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219607708000263","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Man has been using plastics for thousands of years, and some of the earlier uses of plastics include spoons, buttons and combs. Today, plastics are used for a myriad of applications, such as for aerospace, microelectronics and water purification. With polymer chemistry, man has been able to alter the properties of plastics or polymers to suit almost any application. Their properties can also be tailored for use as advanced biomedical implants in the human body. An example of such a polymer is the biocompatible lactide/glycolide polyesters. These biodegradable polymers are currently used as sutures, drug delivery systems, temporary implants and even as scaffolds for tissue engineering.