Polyampholytes are copolymers incorporating opposite charges on different monomer units. They can undergo phase changes in response to subtle changes in comonomer ratio, pH, temperature and salt levels, and have applications ranging from oil recovery to biomedicine. Our lab develops polyampholytes that may be used as building blocks of cell-compatible hydrogels used for cell encapsulation  and as synthetic extracellular matrices for 2D and 3D cell research.This talk will cover two subjects: The first part will describe the synthesis and properties of binary and ternary copolymers of anionic, cationic and neutral acrylic comonomers such as (meth)acrylic acid, aminopropylmethacrylamide, and hydroxyethylacrylamide. In particular, I will describe the solubilities of these copolymers as function of composition, pH, salinity and temperature; and discuss their use as biomedical building blocks.The second part involves charge-shifting copolymers composed of different ratios of dimethylaminoethylacrylate (DMAEA) and aminopropylmethacrylamide. These copolymers start off being fully cationic, but undergo hydrolysis of the DMAEA units to acrylate with half lives of several days, with corresponding changes in net charge and properties. These materials are of interest as temporary polycations that can form electrostatic complexes with polyanions, undergo covalently crosslinking, and subsequently reduce their cationic charge density to become more cyto-compatible.

Thermally, pH, and salt-responsive polyampholytes as building blocks for biomaterials

248th National Meeting (2014)

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