Adsorption of zirconyl salts and their acids on hydroxyapatite: use of the salts as coupling agents to dental polymer composites.

Zirconyl methacrylate (I) and zirconyl-2-ethylhexanoate (II) were synthesized, and their adsorption isotherms from solutions onto synthetic hydroxyapatite were studied. The isotherms of methacrylic and 2-ethylhexanoic acids were also determined from the same solvents. The adsorption of I was irreversible from methylene chloride, and that of II was irreversible from cyclohexane. The adsorption in both cases was constant from solutions above a certain concentration, and exhaustive below this threshold concentration. Both compounds rendered the dried apatite powder extremely hydrophobic; however, the adsorbate was slowly washed off by excess water. The configuration of the adsorbate molecules, deduced from the maximum adsorption and other adsorption characteristics of the two compounds, indicated that: (i) in both cases the adsorbate may be held to the surface by concerted hydrogen bonding of the carboxylate and zirconyl oxygen atoms; and (ii) the hydrocarbon moieties in both adsorbates expose themselves toward the solution, thereby making the dried surface hydrophobic. The adsorptive behavior of the respective acids was similar to that of the salts. Polymer, filled with synthetic hydroxyapatite covered with irreversibly adsorbed I, had a diametral tensile strength about 50% greater than that of the polymer filled with untreated apatite. The strength of the composite was not affected by treatment of the apatite with II or with the acids.