Property enhancement of dental composite prepared with an isosorbide-based photocurable compound by mixing with TEGDMA

We synthesized isosorbide glycidyl methacrylate (IsoGMA) as a bio-based analog of bisphenol A-glycidyl methacrylate (BisGMA) and investigated the mechanical and physical properties of IsoGMA-based dental composites to examine the possibility of using IsoGMA as a less-toxic substitute for BisGMA. The dental composites that were prepared with IsoGMA exhibited a low flexural strength compared to that of the BisGMA-based composites due to the high viscosity and surface energy of IsoGMA. After mixing with tri(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (TEGDMA), IsoGMA/TEGDMA (8:2) composites exhibited a flexural strength of 120 MPa and a glass transition temperature of 96.9 degrees C, which were higher than those of the IsoGMA composite (i.e., 79.0 MPa and 65.1 degrees C, respectively). In addition, TEGDMA improved the water sorption of the IsoGMA composite from 28.0 to 22.2 mu g/mm(3), but slightly increased the curing shrinkage from 3.4 to 4.0%.