Mertcan ER, Nermin ORAKDOGEN
Istanbul Technical University, Department of Chemistry, Soft Materials Research Laboratory,
34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey
E-mail: mertcaner@itu.edu.tr, orakdogen@itu.edu.tr
Semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (SIPNs) consist of two or more interpenetrating networks, one component of which is in a network structure containing crosslinks and the other is incorporated into the structure as a linear high-weight polymer without crosslinks [1]. In this study, SIPN strategy was used to design hybrid gels with improved mechanical and physical properties to utilize the synergistic effect between biopolymer Xanthan Gum (XG) and chemically cross-linked network based on biocompatible 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and di(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate. One of the hypotheses of the study was to investigate the effect of the synergistic phenomenon on material properties such as composition-dependent swelling and elastic modulus by synthesizing polymer gels at constant XG w/w% concentration while varying the GMA mol% amount in the gelation feed and keeping the preparation temperatures at 24 °C and -18 °C, respectively. The chemical structures of SIPN gels are characterized by FTIR and XRD analyses. In order to simulate their behavior in biological and physicochemical environments, the swelling and mechanical properties of SIPN gels were investigated in aqueous solutions of Hofmeister anions (CO32-, Cl- and NO3-) (ranging from 10-5 to 3.0 mol/L) [2]. Since the SIPN gels maintained their mechanical integrity after reaching swelling equilibrium even at high concentrations as 3.0 mol/L, the ion-specific effects on the microstructure of polymer gel networks were elucidated by applying FTIR analysis to the gels after salt-induced swelling. With improved mechanical, salt-resistant and stable properties, Poly(HEMA-co-GMA)/XG-based SIPN gels offer a promising template scaffold for medical research [3].
Acknowledgment
This study was conducted by Istanbul Technical University, Graduate School and supported as part of the PhD thesis entitled «Design Strategies and Structure-Property Relationships of Soft Materials Based on Functional Poly(N-alkyl methacrylate) Hybrid Gels»
REFERENCES
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