Wen-Fu Lee, P. Yeh
Aug 1, 1997
Citations
0
Influential Citations
13
Citations
Journal
Journal of Applied Polymer Science
Abstract
A series of thermoreversible hydrogels are prepared from the various molar ratios of N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA), n-butoxymethyl acrylamide (nBMA), and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (NMBA). The influences of the amount of DMA in the copolymeric gels, temperature, and polymerization media on the swelling behaviors in water are investigated. Results indicate that the higher the DMA content in the hydrogel systems the higher the swelling ratio and the gel transition temperature. The effects of the gel thickness on the swelling ratio for DMA/nBMA copolymeric gels indicate that the equilibrium swelling time and diffusion coefficient for the thinner gel (1.5 mm) from the dried state to the completely swollen state are obviously faster than are those for the thicker gels ( 2.0 and 3.5 mm). The effects of the different polymerization media on the swelling ratio for DMA/nBMA copolymeric gels also show that the larger the solvent molecular size and the poor miscibility of the monomer and solvent the higher the swelling ratio and the diffusion coefficient. The drug release in these copolymeric gel systems are also investigated.