Ordered Hard‐Segment Polyurethanes: Structural Design, Functional Regulation, Biomedical Applications, and Perspectives

ABSTRACT Biomedical polyurethanes (PUs) are widely investigated for blood‐contacting devices, soft‐tissue repair, tissue‐engineering scaffolds, and smart implants owing to their tunable segmented structures, elasticity, and processability. However, aromatic PUs may generate potentially harmful degradation products, while conventional aliphatic PUs often suffer from insufficient hard‐segment association, limited microphase separation, and inadequate long‐term mechanical stability. Ordered hard‐segment PUs, constructed from monodisperse, uniform‐sized, or structurally well‐defined hard segments, provide a molecular‐level strategy to address these challenges by enabling cooperative hydrogen bonding and enhanced soft–hard segment microphase separation. This Review summarizes recent progress in their structural design, molecular construction, functional regulation, biomedical applications, and translational evaluation of ordered hard‐segment PUs. Particular emphasis is placed on how hard‐segment length, sequence regularity, symmetry, and content, together with soft‐segment chemistry, surface/interface functionalization, blending or composite strategies, and network‐based designs, regulate microstructure, mechanical performance, biocompatibility, and degradation behavior. The distinction between hard‐segment ordering and hard‐segment chemistry is further discussed, highlighting the importance of molecular regularity and packing capability rather than simply increasing hard‐segment content. Finally, current challenges associated with biological validation, standardized evaluation, device‐oriented design, and clinical translation are discussed, underscoring the need for structurally precise, interface‐stable, application‐specific ordered hard‐segment PUs as advanced biomedical elastomers.

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Publication Details

Journal
Macromolecular Bioscience
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/mabi.70280
Primary Topic
biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
Type
article
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article

Ordered Hard‐Segment Polyurethanes: Structural Design, Functional Regulation, Biomedical Applications, and Perspectives

Zhaosheng Hou, Rongrong Zhang, Zuopeng Wang, Fuyang Song
Macromolecular Bioscience
biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
article

Ordered Hard‐Segment Polyurethanes: Structural Design, Functional Regulation, Biomedical Applications, and Perspectives

Zhaosheng Hou, Rongrong Zhang, Zuopeng Wang, Fuyang Song
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Biomedical polyurethanes (PUs) are widely investigated for blood‐contacting devices, soft‐tissue repair, tissue‐engineering scaffolds, and smart implants owing to their tunable segmented structures, elasticity, and processability. However, aromatic PUs may generate potentially harmful degradation products, while conventional aliphatic PUs often suffer from insufficient hard‐segment association, limited microphase separation, and inadequate long‐term mechanical stability. Ordered hard‐segment PUs, constructed from monodisperse, uniform‐sized, or structurally well‐defined hard segments, provide a molecular‐level strategy to address these challenges by enabling cooperative hydrogen bonding and enhanced soft–hard segment microphase separation. This Review summarizes recent progress in their structural design, molecular construction, functional regulation, biomedical applications, and translational evaluation of ordered hard‐segment PUs. Particular emphasis is placed on how hard‐segment length, sequence regularity, symmetry, and content, together with soft‐segment chemistry, surface/interface functionalization, blending or composite strategies, and network‐based designs, regulate microstructure, mechanical performance, biocompatibility, and degradation behavior. The distinction between hard‐segment ordering and hard‐segment chemistry is further discussed, highlighting the importance of molecular regularity and packing capability rather than simply increasing hard‐segment content. Finally, current challenges associated with biological validation, standardized evaluation, device‐oriented design, and clinical translation are discussed, underscoring the need for structurally precise, interface‐stable, application‐specific ordered hard‐segment PUs as advanced biomedical elastomers.

Macromolecular BioscienceVol. 26(11)
Shandong Normal University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 28%
biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
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