Abstract: | Polyphosphoester is a kind of biodegradable polymer with excellent biocompatibility and have been used in drug delivery, tissue engineering, and other bioapplications. A novel unsaturated polyphosphoester (UPPE) based on bis(1,2‐propylene glycol) fumarate (BPGF) and ethyl dichlorophosphate was synthesized by polycondensation reaction, and crosslinkable double bonds was introduced into the resulting polymer through the fumarate groups. NMR results indicate that there are three possible bonding models in polyphosphoester because of three isomers of BPGF. The GPC results express that increase in polymerization time leads to high molecular weight of polyphosphester and narrow distribution of molecular weight. After 18 h of polymerization reaction, the molecular weight reached to 5956 g mol?1 and the polydispersity index was 1.12. The UPPE was soluble in N‐vinyl pyrrolidone and easily crosslinked by free‐radical polymerization. At the constant temperature (37°C), the maximum temperature due to heat release during crosslinking reaction varied from 41.1°C to 82.30°C and the setting time was between 1.95 and 10.28 min, according to different formulas. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3095–3101, 2006 |