Rheology of Thermoresponsive Biocopolymers

M. M. SOLEDAD, LENCINA; ZACHAROULA, IATRIDI; NOEMÍ A, ANDREUCETTI; CONSTANTINO, TSITSILIANIS; MARCELO A., VILLAR

Porto de Galinhas, PE

Simposio; XIV Latin American Symposium on Polymers; 2014

Thermosensitive hydrogels of alginate and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) were synthesized and characterized. The viscoelastic properties of aqueous copolymer solutions were studied as a function of temperature. The effect of the concentration, salt content and also the length of the grafted Poly(NIPAAm) (PNIPAAm) side chains were evaluated. Rheological studies indicate that alginate-based graft copolymers have, above their lower critical solution temperature (LCST), a thermo-thickening behavior displaying a sol/gel transition. The LCST and the gel formation temperature were found to be tunable depending on the previously mentioned factors. Hydrogels based on natural polymers are of especial interest due to their potential applications in pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. In this way, this work reveals that the copolymers obtained are promising materials due to their ability of physical thermoresponsive hydrogel formation.