Synthesis and Characterization of Thermoresponsive Terpolymer for Protein Separation

Abstract

Thermoresponsive hydrogels with fixed molar ratio (25 mol%) N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and different concentration of N-tertiary butylacrylamide (NTBA) and hydroxyethylacrylamide (HEAA) were synthesized and characterized. Differential scanning calorimetry indicated that the amount of the bound water and the bound water to total water ratio increased with increasing the hydrophobic NTBA in the hydrogel. The kinetic study of the swelling of hydrogels showed that all samples followed the non-Fickian type of diffusion. The separation efficiency of hydrogels having higher content of HEAA were found to be up to 90% at 5°C but it decreases upon raising the temperature up to 30°C.

Keywords:

• Diffusion
• DSC
• NIPA based terpolymer
• protein separation
• swelling

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to acknowledge the Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF) at Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.