Hydrogels are capable of absorbing many times their weight in water but are insoluble in water due to the crosslinked nature, making them ideal materials for use in biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems. Water within hydrogel networks play a pivotal role in dictating network properties such as mechanical stability, permeability, and network architecture. Three discrete states of water (bound, restricted, and free) exist within hydrogel networks, which are described by the degree of hydrogen bonding that occurs between molecular water and the network. As shown in the schematic, bound water is tightly held to the network often undergoing 3 to 4 modes of hydrogen bonding, restricted water is loosely held undergoing 1 to 2 modes of hydrogen bonding and free water is unassociated with the network. The purpose of this study is to gain a fundamental understanding of the influence of structural parameters on water uptake and morphology for acrylamide based glycopolymer hydrogels containing stereospecific glucose and galactose pendant moieties, synthesized via UV initiated free radical polymerization. A fractional factorial experimental design was utilized to systematically elucidate the influence of monomer concentration, crosslinker to monomer ratio, UV exposure time, and solvent system on water uptake and structure characterized via thermogravimetric analysis, TGA, and DSC.

Synthesis of stereospecific glycopolymer hydrogel networks for the determination of the effects of network architecture on water content and structure

251st National Meeting (2016)

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