The Polymer Technology Group Files Patents for Polymer Surface Modification Technology
BERKELEY, Calif., April 2, 2007 — Robert Ward, CEO of the Polymer Technology Group, Inc. (PTG), and the PTG research team have reported their newest technology for polymer surface modification: Self Assembling Monolayer End Groups (SAME™). The subject of broad patent applications, SAME is a ‘two-dimensional nanotechnology’ that is a significant advance in the engineering of surface properties of medical devices and other critical components made from gels, rubbers and plastics (i.e., polymers). Today’s sophisticated medical devices, artificial organs, and drug delivery systems need precisely controlled surface structure and chemistry to achieve maximum safety and performance.
Self Assembling Monolayer End group technology overcomes the complexity and expense of coating surfaces after they are formed. Instead, SAME technology modifies a structural polymer by permanently binding special end groups onto the polymer molecules while it is being made. When the modified polymer is formed into a device, the end groups migrate and self assemble in the surface to form a molecular monolayer optimized for the application.
Until now, Self-Assembling Monolayers (SAMs) have been made with silanes or by adsorbing thiol- terminated oligomers onto gold or other noble metals. The sulfur-containing thiols create well-controlled surfaces for research, but they fall apart within a few days and are therefore too fragile for long-term applications. PTG has discovered that similar monomers (without sulfur) chemically bonded to high-strength polymers will still self assemble at the surface. That is, you can make strong, durable products from materials with permanently bonded SAM-like end groups. The technology is very broad since it can be applied to virtually any polymer. For this reason it is also useful in many non-medical applications where precise control of the surface is needed.
The Polymer Technology Group was founded in 1989 by Bob Ward, who is a recognized pioneer in the field of biomedical polymers and the company’s president. PTG specializes in research, development, scale-up, and manufacture of all types of specialty polymers, polymer components and medical devices. PTG’s commercial products include two of the world’s most extensively tested biomaterials, BioSpan® segmented polyurethane and Bionate® polycarbonate urethane. In addition, PTG offers custom-fabricated components from its patented PurSil™ silicone polyether-urethane and CarboSil™ silicone-polycarbonate urethane with proprietary surface modification technology. PTG’s recently-expanded facility is vertically integrated for polymer discovery and scale up, and polymer production for clients, or for support of in-house contract manufacturing of medical devices.
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