Homopolymer and ABC triblock copolymer mixtures for thermoresponsive gel formulations
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Author(s)
Constantinou, Anna P
Provatakis, Nikitas
Li, Qian
Georgiou, Theoni K
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Our group has recently invented a novel series of thermoresponsive ABC triblock terpolymers based on oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate with average Mn 300 g mol−1 (OEGMA300, A unit), n-butyl methacrylate (BuMA, B unit) and di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (DEGMA, C unit) with excellent thermogelling properties. In this study, we investigate how the addition of OEGMA300x homopolymers of varying molar mass (MM) affects the gelation characteristics of the best performing ABC triblock terpolymer. Interestingly, the gelation is not disrupted by the addition of the homopolymers, with the gelation temperature (Tgel) remaining stable at around 30 °C, depending on the MM and content in OEGMA300x homopolymer. Moreover, stronger gels are formed when higher MM OEGMA300x homopolymers are added, presumably due to the homopolymer chains acting as bridges between the micelles formed by the triblock terpolymer, thus, favouring gelation. In summary, novel formulations based on mixtures of triblock copolymer and homopolymers are presented, which can provide a cost-effective alternative for use in biomedical applications, compared to the use of the triblock copolymer only.
Date Issued
2021-08-09
Date Acceptance
2021-08-06
Citation
Gels, 2021, 7 (3), pp.1-11
ISSN
2310-2861
Publisher
MDPI
Start Page
1
End Page
11
Journal / Book Title
Gels
Volume
7
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2021 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Identifier
https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/7/3/116
Grant Number
EP/R511547/1
MMRE_P75852
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-08-09