TEMPERATURE AND pH RESPONSE, AND SWELLING BEHAVIOR OF POROUS ACRYLONITRILE-ACRYLIC ACID COPOLYMER HYDROGELS.

Macroporous acrylonitrile-acrylic acid (AN-AA) copolymer hydrogels were synthesized by free-radical solution polymerizations, using ammonium persulfate (APS)/N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) redox initiator system and alcohols porogens. The morphology, temperature and pH sensitive swelling behavior, and swelling kinetics of the resulting hydrogels were investigated. It was found that alcohol type and concentration had great influences on the pore structure and porosity of hydrogels. The pore size of hydrogel increases with the moderate increase of the length of alcohol alkyl chain. However, a further increase of alkyl length would result in the formation of cauliflower-like structure and the decrease of pore size. The porosity of hydrogels increases with the increase of porogen concentration in the polymerization medium. The hydrogels with macroporous structure swell or shrink much faster in response to the change of pH in comparison with the conventional hydrogel without macroporous structure. Furthermore, the response rate is closely related to the porosity of the hydrogels, which could be easily controlled by modulating the concentration of the porogen in the medium. The circular swelling behavior of hydrogels indicated the formation of a relaxing three-dimensional network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]