As a smart material, environment-responsive hydrogel can undergo significant changes in their physicochemical properties in response to physical or chemical stimuli, which has drawn wide attention in various fields. Here, we reported a novel hemicellulose based hydrogel prepared by free radical copolymerization of hemicellulose methacrylate with 4-[(4-acryloyloxyphenyl)azo]benzoic acid (AOPAB), which showed multi-responsive behaviors to pH, solvents, and light. According to the AOPAB content of the synthesized hydrogels, their swelling ratios were ranged from 2.2 to 9.8 g/g in distilled water, which was mainly associated with the strong electrostatic repulsion among carboxylic groups (-COO-). The prepared hydrogels can be easily controlled by changing solvent pH and solvent type, which also show good swelling and de-swelling recycling performance. Results from light response test suggested that under UV irradiation the trans-conformation of azobenzene in hydrogel would generally convert into cis-conformation. In addition, the prepared hydrogel loaded Vitamin B12 (VB12) was applied as a drug delivery device to monitor its drug release behavior. The results also indicated that the hydrogel under UV irradiation showed higher drug cumulative release rate than those without UV irradiation. Considering the multi-responsive behavior of the synthesized hydrogel, it has great potential in the field of drug delivery, tissue engineering, pharmaceutical formulations, and biomimetic materials.

Synthesis, characterization, and application of multiresponsive hemicellulose based hydrogels

247th National Meeting (2014)

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