Investigation of the swelling behaviour of hydrogels in aqueous acid or alkaline solutions

Abstract

For development of tailor made drug delivery systems using poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogels, the influence of acids and bases added to the aqueous solution on the swelling behaviour as function of concentration, temperature and kind of acid or base were investigated experimentally. The selected acids are formic, acetic, propionic, lactic, succinic, α-ketoglutaric and citric acid. The applied bases are sodium and potassium hydroxide. The swelling behaviour was characterised by the degree of swelling and by the uptake of acids by the hydrogel in the swollen state. In the case of weak acids the properties of the swollen hydrogel as well as the phase transition temperature and phase transition acid concentration depends on the type of acids, whereas the properties of the shrunken state do not depend on the acid used. In the case of strong bases, the properties of the shrunken and swollen state depend on the ionic strength, but not on the base applied.

Keywords:

• poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogels
• swelling in aqueous acid solutions
• swelling in aqueous alkaline solutions
• acid uptake