Preparation, formulation and evaluation of novel photo-cured glass ionomers based on co-polymers of (meth)acrylated amino acids

A novel photo-cured amino-acid-constructed glass-ionomer cement system has been developed. Glutamic acid- and beta-alanine-based methacrylate and acrylate derivatives were synthesized, characterized and used to construct the polyalkenoic acids and formulated with water and Fuji II glass filler to form self-cured cement. Compressive strength (CS) of the cement and viscosity of the liquid were used as tools for evaluation. The effects of molar ratio and molecular weight (MW) were studied. The optimized co-polymer was further modified with glycidyl methacrylate (GM) and formulated with water, acrylic acid and Fuji II LC filler to form photo-cured cement. The effects of MW, GM tethering ratio, polymer liquid ratio and glass filler powder/polymer liquid (P/L) ratio were investigated. CS, flexural strength (FS) and viscosity were used as screening tools to find the optimal formulation. All the specimens were conditioned in distilled water at 37°C for either 24 h or 7 days prior to testing. The results show that amino-acid-constructed polyalkenoic acids can be formed only from amino acid methacrylate derivatives or by co-polymerization of methacrylate with acrylate derivatives. Among the numerous co-polymers synthesized, poly(methacryloyl glutamic acid-co-acryloyl beta-alanine) or poly(MGA-co-ABA) with the molar ratio of 8:2 and MW of 19.5 kg/mol contributed the highest mechanical strengths and lower working viscosity to the cement. For photo-cured system, the effects of GM tethering ratio, polymer content and P/L ratio were significant. It is found that an appropriate ratio balance between these parameters is very important. The effect of molecular weight was not significant. The self-cured experimental cement was 32% higher in FS than Fuji II and the same in CS and DTS as Fuji II. The photo-cured experimental cement was 19%, 47% and 176% higher in CS, DTS and FS than Fuji II LC.