Copolymers of N-alkylacrylamides as thermosensitive hydrogels

Many of the N-alkyl substituted acrylamide polymers can manifest a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) in aqueous solutions. The LCST of such polymers can be easily varied by a free radical copolymerization of the appropriate comonomers. Natural compounds such as bile acids can be introduced into such polymers to modify the LCST and aggregation behavior and to render the material both thermo- and pH-sensitivity.