Effect of Polymer Molecular Mass and Structure on the Mechanical Properties of Polymer-Glass Hybrids.

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials are a promising class of materials for tissue engineering and other biomedical applications. In this systematic study, the effect of the polymer molecular mass (MM) with a linear architecture on hybrid mechanical properties is reported. Well-defined linear poly(methyl methacrylate--(3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate)) polymers with a range of MMs of 9 to 90 kDa and one 90 kDa star-shaped polymer were synthesized and then used to form glass-polymer hybrids. It was demonstrated that increasing linear polymer MM decreases the resultant hybrid mechanical strength. Furthermore, a star-polymer hybrid was synthesized as a comparison and demonstrated significantly different mechanical properties relative to its linear-polymer counterpart.