Poly vinyl methyl ether Hydrogel

Poly(vinyl methyl ether), PVME, is a thermo-sensitive polymer. The aqueous solution has a Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST) of 37 °C. Therefore, PVME is soluble in water below its LCST, but insoluble above its LCST. When an aqueous solution of PVME is irradiated with y-rays the solution becomes PVME hydrogel [18, 19]. The gel shows thermo-sensitivity similar to the solution, and swells below 37 °C and shrinks above this temperature. It is important to form a fine porous gel structure to obtain quick response gels. There are two methods for the purpose. One is a method using micro-phase separation by heating. The other is a method using micro-phase separation by blending of polymer solutions. 

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Arndt KF, Schmidt T, Menge H (2001) Poly(vinyl methyl ether) hydrogel formed by high energy irradiation. Macromol Symp 164 313-322... 

Schmidt T, Querner C, Arndt KF (2003) Characterization methods for radiation crosslinked poly(vinyl methyl ether) hydrogels. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res B 208 331-335... 

Theiss D, Schmidt T, Arndt KF (2004) Temperature-sensitive poly(vinyl methyl ether) hydrogel beads. Macromol Symp 210 465 174... 

Takeda M, Norisuye T, Shibayama M (2000) Critical dynamics of cross-linked polymer chains near the gelation threshold. Macromolecules 33 2909-2915 Te Nijenhuis K (1997a) Thermoreversible networks. Introduction. Adv Polym Sci 130 1-12 Te Nijenhuis K (1997b) Thermoreversible networks. Gelatin. Adv Polym Sci 130 160-193 Theiss D, Schmidt T, Dorschner H, Reichelt R, Arndt K-F (2005) Filled temperature-sensitive poly(vinyl methyl ether) hydrogels. J Appl Polym Sci 98 2253-2265 Toomey R, Freidank D, Riihe J (2004) Swelling behavior of thin, surface-attached polymer networks. Macromolecules 37 882-887... 

Figure 9 shows the temperature dependence of the elastic part of the complex Young s modulus E a>) for various poly(vinyl methyl ether) hydrogel samples in water at a selected frequency of 20.1 rad/s. The polymer was cross-linked by electron beam irradiation (see Sect. 2.4, chapter Synthesis of hydrogels ). These data were compared with the temperature shrinking behaviour of sample PVME 20/80... 

Hirasa 0, Morishita Y, Onomura R, Ichijo H, Yamauchi A. Preparation and mechanical properties of thermo-responsive fibrous hydrogels made from poly(vinyl methyl ether)s. Kobunshi Ronbunshu 1989 46(11) 661—665. 

Charlesby-Pinner plot of pure poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) (white triangle), pure poly(vinylpyrrolidinone) (PVP) (black triangle), and a 1 1 mixture (black circle electron beam white circle y-irradiation) s corresponds to the sol fraction and D to the radiation dose. (From Gottlieb, R., Schmidt, T., Arndt, K., Synthesis of temperature-sensitive hydrogel blends by high-energy irradiation. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 2005,236,371-376. With permission.)... 

More recently, iodonium salts have been widely used as photoinitiators in the polymerization studies of various monomeric precursors, such as copolymerization of butyl vinyl ether and methyl methacrylate by combination of radical and radical promoted cationic mechanisms [22], thermal and photopolymerization of divinyl ethers [23], photopolymerization of vinyl ether networks using an iodonium initiator [24,25], dual photo- and thermally-initiated cationic polymerization of epoxy monomers [26], preparation and properties of elastomers based on a cycloaliphatic diepoxide and poly(tetrahydrofuran) [27], photoinduced crosslinking of divinyl ethers [28], cationic photopolymerization of l,2-epoxy-6-(9-carbazolyl)-4-oxahexane [29], preparation of interpenetrating polymer network hydrogels based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone [30], photopolymerization of unsaturated cyclic ethers [31] and many other works. 

M.J. Garland, T.R.R. Singh, A.D. Woolfson, and R.F Donnelly, Electrically enhanced solute permeation across poly(ethylene glycol)-crosslinked poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic acid) hydrogels Effect of hydrogel crosslink density and ionic conductivity, Int. J. Pharm.,... 

E. Moreno, J. Schwartz, E. Larraneta, P.A. Nguewa, C. Sanmartin, M. Agiieros, J.M. Irache, and S. Espuelas, Thermosensitive hydrogels of poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic anhydride) - Pluronic F127 copolymers for controlled protein release, Int. J. Pharm., 459,1-9,2014. 

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