Synthesis and characterization of polyhedral oligomeric titanized silsesquioxane: A new biocompatible cage like molecule for biomedical application

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials have shown improved properties to be used as biocompatible coating in biomedical applications. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) containing coatings are among hybrid materials showing promising properties for these applications. In this work an open cage POSS has been reacted with a titanium alkoxide to end cap the POSS molecule with titanium atom to obtain a so called polyhedral oligomeric metalized silsesquioxane (POMS). The synthesized POMS was characterized by FTIR, RAMAN and UV-visible spectroscopy as well as 29Si NMR and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) techniques. Appearance of peaks at 920 cm- 1 in FTIR and 491 cm- 1 and 1083 cm- 1 in Raman spectra confirmed Si-O-Ti linkage formation. It was also demonstrated that POMS was in a monomeric form. To evaluate the biocompatibility of hybrids films, pristine POSS and synthesized POMS were used in synthesis of a polycarbonate urethane polymer. Results revealed that POMS containing hybrid, not only had notable thermal and mechanical stability compared to POSS containing one, as demonstrated by DSC and DMTA analysis, they also showed controlled surface properties in such a manner that hydrophobicity and biocompatibility were both reachable to give rise to improved cell viability in presence of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and MRC-5 cells.