New Inorganic/Organic Copolymers (Ormocer®s) for Dental Applications

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Abstract
Urethane- and thioether (meth)acrylate alkoxysilanes have been used, as sol-gel precursors, for the preparation of a special family of inorganic/organic copolymers (ORMOCER®s). The basic silane type offers the following structural and synthetic possibilities for modifying the properties of the resulting copolymers: variation of the number of alkoxy groups, combination with other, different, sol-gel precursors, variation of the number of attached (meth)acrylate groups (1– 5), and variation within the molecular segment (kind, structure and length) connecting the inorganic with the organic polymer structure. To achieve the additional organic polymer structure in the cured copolymer the use of different radically induced polymerization approaches (UV-, visible light-, thermal-and redox induced) is possible. Taking the incorporation of fillers into account, the Young's modulus of these copolymers is adjustable in a range of 1–17000 MPa, and the thermal expansion coefficient in a range of 17–250·10-6·K-1 (5 - 50 °C). Other advantages are the low shrinkage (1 - 2,8 vol.-%), the high flexural strength (up to 160 MPa), and the high abrasion resistance. This new copolymer type seems to have significant potential for medical applications, especially as dental filling material to replace the currently used controversial amalgam fillings.