Synthesis of novel cholic acid functionalized branched oligo/poly(epsilon-caprolactone)s for biomedical applications

Novel cholic acid functionalized branched oligo/poly(epsilon-caprolactone)s were synthesized through the ring-opening polymerization of epsilon-caprolactone initiated by cholic acid with hydroxyl groups. The molecular weight of the branched polymers can be adjusted by controlling the feed ratio of the initiator cholic acid to the monomer epsilon-caprolactone. Comparing with linear homopolymer poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL), these branched oligo/poly(epsilon-caprolactone)s show much faster hydrolytic degradation rates, implies that our approach provides a convenient and effective strategy to accelerate degradation of the biodegradable polymers with slow degradation rates such as PCL. The cell culture experiment indicates the incorporation of cholic acid moiety to the polymer chain can improve both cell adherence and proliferation obviously.