Synthesis of a proline-modified acrylic acid copolymer in supercritical CO2 for glass-ionomer dental cement applications

Supercritical (sc-) fluids (such as sc-CO2) represent interesting media for the synthesis of polymers in dental and biomedical applications. Sc-CO2 has several advantages for polymerization reactions in comparison to conventional organic solvents. It has several advantages in comparison to conventional polymerization solvents, such as enhanced kinetics, being less harmful to the environment and simplified solvent removal process. In our previous work, we synthesized poly(acrylic acid-co-itaconic acid-co-N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PAA-IA-NVP) terpolymers in a supercritical CO2/methanol mixture for applications in glass-ionomer dental cements. In this study, proline-containing acrylic acid copolymers were synthesized, in a supercritical CO2 mixture or in water. Subsequently, the synthesized polymers were used in commercially available glass-ionomer cement formulations (Fuji IX commercial GIC). Mechanical strength (compressive strength (CS), diametral tensile strength (DTS) and biaxial flexural strength (BFS)) and handling properties (working and setting time) of the resulting modified cements were evaluated. It was found that the polymerization reaction in an sc-CO2/methanol mixture was significantly faster than the corresponding polymerization reaction in water and the purification procedures were simpler for the former. Furthermore, glass-ionomer cement samples made from the terpolymer prepared in sc-CO2/methanol exhibited higher CS and DTS and comparable BFS compared to the same polymer synthesized in water. The working properties of glass-ionomer formulations made in sc-CO2/methanol were comparable and better than the values of those for polymers synthesized in water. © 2009 Acta Materialia Inc