Synthesis of pH responsive nanogels from tris[(hydroxymethyl)methyl]acrylamide (NAT), acrylic acid (AA), and (+)N,N-diallyltartradiamide (DAT) by nanoemulsion.

FACUNDO MATTEA; JIMENA MORA; GREGOR NAGEL; MARCELO ROMERO; ANA SOUSA-HERVES; MARCELO CALDERON; MIRIAM C. STRUMIA

Porto do Galinhas

Congreso; XIV Latin American Symposium on Polymers / XII Ibero American Congress on Polymers; 2014

Brazilian Polymer Association

Macrogels and nanogels of the system NAT + AA + DAT were synthesized with different monomers and crosslinking agent concentrations. An initial study in the hydrogel bulk scale was useful to determine the synthesis conditions prior to the nanogel formation and a lower concentration limited of 0.4 M was set for the nanogels synthesis method. The mechanical characterization of the macrogels indicated that the elastic modulus (G´) was proportional to the monomers concentration for overall concentrations lower than 1 mM, but was constant at higher concentrations. At concentrations lower than 0.4 M the tan δ was higher than 0.2, indicating that gels were soft crosslinked networks. The chemical characterization of the reaction products was performed by infrared spectroscopy and presents good correlations between macro- and nano- gels with the exception of the presence of surfactants in the nanoscale synthesis products. Both materials presented larger volumetric expansions for higher pH values and are suitable for pH triggered release applications.