Thermosensitive Copolymers Based on Alginate and Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Obtained by Gamma-radiation

M. M. SOLEDAD, LENCINA; NOEMÍ A, ANDREUCETTI; MARCELO A., VILLAR

Granada

Congreso; European Polymer Congress EPF11; 2011

Institute of Science and Technology of Polymers

Irradiation is a valuable technique for the modification of physical and chemical properties of polymeric materials. The use of gamma-irradiation methods has advantages, such as relatively simple manipulation and the absence of any extra agents for polymerization and/or crosslinking [1]. Alginate is a linear biopolymer of 1,4-linked â-D-mannuronate (M) and á-L-guluronate (G) residues [2]. N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) could be polymerized in order to obtain poly(NIPAAm), a thermo-responsive polymer, which shows coil-globule transformation at a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) around 32 °C [3]. The aim of this work is to obtain alginate-PNIPAAm copolymers via irradiation with gamma rays from 60Co with the final goal of synthesized thermoresposive hydrogels.