ABSTRACT
The current chapter summarizes recent efforts in the development of new materials containing phosphorus and/or nitrogen functionalities feasible for biomedical applications. The first part discusses the attractive properties of polyphosphoesters (biodegradable backbone, water solubility, structural derivatization capability of the phosphorus atom, etc.), the most common preparation procedures of such architectures, and the main area of interest for the application of polyphosphoesters (drug/gene delivery, hydrogel-based skin-wound dressings, cell and tissue engineering applications, etc.), according to an updated literature survey, and concludes with our contribution on poly(vinyl alcohol)–phosphoester–chondroitin sulphate hydrogels. The second part of the work draws attention to the increasing interest in nanofibrous polyimide membranes obtained using the electrospinning technique. Then, the preparation of gold nanoparticles/polyimide nanofibers by the same interesting alternative technique is discussed. Finally, the gold nanoparticles/polyimide nanofiber composites have been investigated in terms of their biological activity and potential biomedical applications. Thus, the cytotoxicity of the prepared nanocomposites was evaluated using the preosteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1, subclone 4 cells. The results obtained recommend these gold–polyimide nanocomposites for biomedical applications as antimicrobial coatings.
