Polycaprolactone (PCL) is drawing increasing attention in the field of medical 3D printing and tissue engineering because of its\nbiodegradability. This study developed polycaprolactone prepolymers that can be cured using visible light.Three PCL acrylateswere\nsynthesized: polycaprolactone-530 diacrylate (PCL530DA), glycerol-3 caprolactone triacrylate (Glycerol-3CL-TA), and glycerol-6\ncaprolactone triacrylate (Glycerol-6CL-TA). PCL530DA has two acrylates, whereas Glycerol-3CL-TA and Glycerol-6CL-TA have\nthree acrylates. The Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra suggested successful synthesis of all PCL\nacrylates. All are liquid at room temperature and can be photopolymerized into a transparent solid after exposure to 470nm\nblue LED light using 1% camphorquinone as photoinitiator and 2% dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate as coinitiator.The degree of\nconversion for all PCL acrylates can reach more than 80% after 1 min of curing.The compressivemodulus of PCL530DA, Glycerol-\n3CL-TA, and Glycerol-6CL-TA is 65.7�±12.7, 80.9�±6.1, and 32.1�±4.1MPa, respectively, and their compressive strength is 5.3�±0.29,\n8.3 �± 0.18, and 3.0 �± 0.53MPa, respectively.Thus, all PCL acrylates synthesized in this study can be photo polymerized and because\nof their solid structure and low viscosity, they are applicable to soft tissue engineering and medical 3D printing.
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