Tuning the gelation of thermoresponsive gels based on triblock terpolymers
Author(s)
Constantinou, Anna P
Zhan, Beini
Georgiou, Theoni K
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
In need of new thermoresponsive gels, a novel combination of repeated units is reported in this study, with the best-performing polymer outperforming the commercial counterpart pluronic F127 by gelling at body temperatures at concentrations as low as 3 w/w%. These polymers are ABC triblock terpolymers of constant molar mass (MM), where A, B, and C blocks consist of hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate with an average molar mass of 300 g mol–1 (OEGMA300), hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate (BuMA), and the thermoresponsive di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (DEGMA), respectively. In total, 15 triblock terpolymers were synthesized via group transfer polymerization (GTP), and their composition was systematically varied. Key focus was the characterization of their gelation properties via visual tests and rheological measurements. It was concluded that achieving the optimum hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity ratio is critical to ensure a clear solution to gel transition and a wide gelation area that includes the body temperature.
Date Issued
2021-02-05
Date Acceptance
2021-01-26
Citation
Macromolecules, 2021, 54 (4), pp.1943-1960
ISSN
0024-9297
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Start Page
1943
End Page
1960
Journal / Book Title
Macromolecules
Volume
54
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2021 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Macromolecules, after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.0c02533
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Identifier
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.macromol.0c02533
Grant Number
MMRE_P75852
EP/R511547/1
Subjects
Polymers
03 Chemical Sciences
09 Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
acs.macromol.0c02533
Date Publish Online
2021-02-05