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A series of pH–thermoreversible hydrogels are prepared from the three molar ratios of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and acrylic acid neutralized 50 mol % by sodium hydroxide (SA50) and N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide (NMBA). The influence of the environmental conditions, such as temperature and pH values, on the swelling behavior of these copolymeric gels is also investigated in this article. Results show that the hydrogels bearing negative charges exhibit different equilibrium swelling ratios under various pH media. The pH sensitivities of these gels also strongly depend on the molar ratio of SA50 in the copolymeric gels; thus, the more the SA50 content, the higher the gel pH sensitivity. These hydrogels exhibited thermosensitivity demonstrating a larger change of the equilibrium swelling ratio in aqueous media under temperature changes. An overshooting phenomenon is observed from the gel swelling kinetics under high-temperature conditions. The said hydrogels are also used to investigate the release of model drugs in this study. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 73: 1955–1967, 1999

A series of pH-thermoreversible hydrogels exhibiting volume phase transition were synthesized by three degrees of neutralization (DN) of acrylic acid (AA) and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm). The influence of environmental conditions, such as temperature and pH, on the swelling behavior of these copolymeric gels is investigated in this article. Results show that the negatively charged hydrogels exhibit different equilibrium swelling ratios at different pH values depending on the ionic composition. The pH-sensitivities of these gels also strongly depend on the DN of AA in the copolymeric gels. The results show that the higher the DN, the higher the gel pH-sensitivity. These hydrogels based on a temperature-sensitive hydrogel demonstrate a larger change of equilibrium swelling in aqueous media between a highly solvated, swollen gel state and a collapsed dehydrated network in response to a variation of temperature. On the other hand, a significant phenomenon that was found in the gel swelling kinetics was an overshooting under high temperature conditions. The presented hydrogels were used for release of model drugs that occur at the changes of surrounding conditions, such as temperature and pH, in this study. It was also found that the higher the DN of AA, the higher the gel transition temperature and the larger the release in a high temperature environment and, at the same time, the larger the swelling ratios.