A thread-like variable stiffness device including an elongate shaft, the shaft includes a polymeric material, and a heat conducting device configured to exchange heat with the polymeric material to cause a phase transition of the polymeric material conferring a variable stiffness to the thread-like device, wherein the polymeric material is a thermoset shape memory material.

The present invention pertains to: a functionalized thermoplastic polyurethane containing a novel chain extender having functionality capable of chemically bonding to a prepolymer polymerized by reacting a polyol (P) with a diisocyanate (R); a functional composite material containing one or more monomers or polymers selected from the group consisting of an anionic functional group, an amphoteric functional group, a perfluorinated compound, a hydrogel, and a silicone polymer; a method for producing same; and an article including same.

The present invention relates to curable compositions, in particular, thiol-ene-curing compositions, a method of coating using said curable compositions, cured compositions obtained by curing said curable compositions, cured articles, comprising said cured compositions, a certain compound comprising olefinically unsaturated functional groups and a silyl functional group for use in said curable compositions and a method of manufacturing the curable compositions.

The present invention relates to curable compositions, in particular, thiol-ene-curing compositions, a method of coating using said curable compositions, cured compositions obtained by curing said curable compositions, cured articles, comprising said cured compositions, a certain compound comprising olefinically unsaturated functional groups and a silyl functional group for use in said curable compositions and a method of manufacturing the curable compositions.

Described is a thiol-ene composition that includes a resinous mixture of at least a first monomer and at least a second monomer, in which the first monomer is a polyfunctional allyl monomer and the second monomer is a polyfunctional thiol and the molar ratio of the first monomer to the second monomer is about 60:40 to about 80:20. Said composition further includes conductive colloidal particles in an amount between about 4 wt % and about 7 wt % of the total composition. When cured, a formed composition offers self-healing properties and resistance to abrasions and scratches that exceed the levels found in comparative thiol-enes that either lack the addition of the conductive colloidal particles and/or have a less effective ratio of first monomer to second monomer.

In various embodiments, the present invention provides a functionalized thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) containing bulk incorporated or surface-grafted quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC)s for contact-killing of a variety of microbes, where the QACs are on the surface of TPU to provide a sterile surface material that prevents bacteria commonly involved in device-associated infections (DAIs) from proliferating. The functionalized TPUs of the present invention can be formed into a wide variety of 3-dimensional shapes, such as catheters, medical tubing, laryngeal or tracheal stents, sutures, prosthetics, wound dressings, and/or a coating for medical devices and contains the residue of either a QAC containing diol monomer or an alkene functional diol monomer, which then allows the TPU to be functionalized with a QAC containing disulfide or free thiol compound, to form a quaternary ammonium functionalized thermoplastic polyurethane compound having antimicrobial properties for use in medical devices.

A method of preparing a polymer is provided comprising preparing a Baylis-Hillman adduct by reacting an activated alkene with a carbon electrophile; and polymerizing the Baylis-Hillman adduct. The Baylis-Hillman reaction provides an efficient platform for the synthesis of densely functionalized monomers, from which polymers with multiple functional groups can be readily synthesized. It has been discovered that that Baylis-Hillman adducts are versatile monomers for both controlled radical and step-growth polymerizations.