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Facile synthesis of thermo- and pH-responsive biodegradable microgels

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Abstract

A novel and facile strategy has been designed to prepare biodegradable microgels with thermo- and pH-responsive property. The microgels were synthesized by the crosslinking of N-isopropylacrylamide with vinyl groups functionalized poly(L-glutamic acid) (PGA). The resultant microgels exhibited pH-dependent phase transition behaviors in aqueous solutions and underwent abrupt lower critical solution temperature decrease when the pH was reduced below the pK a of PGA. Dynamic light scattering measurement revealed that the microgels exhibited shrinkage as the temperature increased or the pH decreased.

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Acknowledgements

This project was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50773081, 50973108 and 50733003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China-A3 Foresight Program (50425309), the International Cooperation fund of Science and Technology (Key project 2007DFR5020) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and Jilin Science and Technology Bureau, Science and Technology Development Project (20095003 and 20096018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, People’s Republic of China

    Changwen Zhao, Xiaoye Gao, Pan He, Chunsheng Xiao, Xiuli Zhuang & Xuesi Chen

  2. Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoye Gao, Pan He & Chunsheng Xiao

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  1. Changwen Zhao
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  2. Xiaoye Gao
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  3. Pan He
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  4. Chunsheng Xiao
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  5. Xiuli Zhuang
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  6. Xuesi Chen
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Correspondence to Xiuli Zhuang.

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Zhao, C., Gao, X., He, P. et al. Facile synthesis of thermo- and pH-responsive biodegradable microgels. Colloid Polym Sci 289, 447–451 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-010-2365-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-010-2365-9

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