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Abstract
Six different membranes previously prepared by the authors by graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and 2‐hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) onto chitosan were characterized.
The graft copolymerization of the vinyl monomers onto chitosan was confirmed by FTIR and DMTA. The chitosan used was also characterized by DMTA, which allowed addressing some questions related to the typical thermal transitions of this biopolymer. The swelling capacity of the membranes was also determined. The chitosan‐graft‐AA‐graft‐HEMA with an equimolar ratio of HEMA and AA kept good swelling capacity without compromising its physical stability, which suggests it to be the best matrix for drug delivery systems.
Acknowledgements
We thank the National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), the Co‐ordination for Improvement of Superior Level Students (CAPES), for scholarship to K. S. C. R. Santos, and the University of Coimbra (UC) for financial support. The authors would also like to thank Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia for the financial support to P. Ferreira (SFRH/BD/1052/2000).