Hydrogels, Solvogels or Amphigels? PNIPAM in nonaqueous solvents

MARTINEZ, MARIA VICTORIA; MOLINA, MARIA; BARBERO, CESAR ALFREDO

Mar del Plata

Simposio; XVI SIMPOSIO LATINOAMERICANO DE POLÍMEROS-XIV CONGRESO IBEROAMERICANO DE POLÍMEROS; 2018

Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología en Materiales (INTEMA)

The hydrophilic nature of hydrogel networks is veryattractive since allows gel swelling in water. However itis a disadvantage towards loading hydrophobic drugswhich are insoluble in water. In this work we studiedthe swelling of poly(N-isopropyacrylamide) (PNIPAM)gels in nonaqueous solvents, both pure and as binaryand ternary solutions. The property is used to loadsubstances (dyes, drugs, polymers), which are insolubleor slightly soluble in water, into the gel. Thenonaqueous solvent can be removed by evaporationand the gel swelled in water, exposing the insolublesubstance to aqueous media.