Journal
GELS
Volume 7, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/gels7020040
Keywords
thermo-responsive gel; biocompatible gel; copolymer gel; swelling; volume phase transition
Categories
Funding
- Innovationsfonden (Innovation Fund Denmark) [9091-00010B]
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This study investigates five potential candidates to replace PNIPAm in biomedical and biotechnological applications by studying their equilibrium swelling properties and comparing them with substituted acrylamide gels. The (co)polymers are divided into three groups based on the strength of hydrophobic interactions, showing different responses at and above the volume phase transition temperature.
Biomedical applications of thermo-responsive (TR) hydrogels require these materials to be biocompatible, non-cytotoxic, and non-immunogenic. Due to serious concerns regarding potential toxicity of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm), design of alternative homo- and copolymer gels with controllable swelling properties has recently become a hot topic. This study focuses on equilibrium swelling of five potential candidates to replace PNIPAm in biomedical and biotechnological applications: poly(N-vinylcaprolactam), poly(vinyl methyl ether), poly(N,N-dimethyl amino ethyl methacrylate), and two families of poly(2-oxazoline)s, and poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylates). To evaluate their water uptake properties and to compare them with those of substituted acrylamide gels, a unified model is developed for equilibrium swelling of TR copolymer gels with various types of swelling diagrams. Depending on the strength of hydrophobic interactions (high, intermediate, and low), the (co)polymers under consideration are split into three groups that reveal different responses at and above the volume phase transition temperature.
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