Dong Wang, K. Dušek, P. Kopečková
Aug 30, 2002
Citations
0
Influential Citations
36
Citations
Journal
Macromolecules
Abstract
Novel aromatic azo-containing pH-sensitive hydrogels were synthesized by a “one-step” polymer−polymer reaction of two precursors. Precursor A was synthesized by copolymerization of a new aromatic azo-containing monomer, N-(1-aminohexyl)-4-[[4-(methacryloylamino)phenyl]azo]benzamide (MA-AZO-NH2), with N,N-dimethylacrylamide, N-tert-butylacrylamide, and acrylic acid. Precursor B is a copolymer similar to precursor A that contains N-methacryloylglycylglycine p-nitrophenyl ester (MA-GG-ONp) instead of MA-AZO-NH2. Aromatic azo bonds of MA-AZO-NH2 in the polymer and in hydrogels were degradable in the presence of fresh rat cecum contents. Control hydrogels were synthesized by cross-linking polymer precursor B with a low molecular weight aromatic azo-bond-containing diamine. Modeling of network structure for both novel and control hydrogels was accomplished using a statistical branching theory (theory of branching processes). The theoretical values and experimental data were compared. Conclusions were made for t...