Polyesters represent a class of polymers comprised of backbone ester
linkages offering opportunities to tune the macromolecular properties according to the
needs of specific applications. The polyesters developed to date have generated an
enormous interest because of their applicability in the biomedical field. Although these
are flexible materials in the sense that they can be chemically tuned to obtain the
desired properties, one of the important parameters that has to be considered when
designing the material for biomedical applications represents the biocompatibility.
The present book chapter aims to review the recent advances for the most commonly
studied polyester biomaterials. The first section of this chapter will focus on the
synthesis strategies of polyesters as well as possible modification strategies. The second
section of this chapter will highlight several polymer processing methods used to obtain
scaffolds with different architectures for tissue engineering applications.
Keywords: Biodegradability, biomaterials, polyesters, poly(ethylene
terephthalate), poly(glycerol sebacate), polyhydroxyalkanoates, poly(lactic-coglycolic
acid), poly(ε-caprolactone), prototyping techniques, scaffolds, tissue
engineering.
