Reading School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 224, RG6 6AD, Reading, United Kingdom.
Biomacromolecules. 2008 Dec;9(12):3353-61. doi: 10.1021/bm8006242.
Free-radical copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate with 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate can be successively utilized for the synthesis of water-soluble polymers and hydrogels with excellent physicochemical properties, thus showing promise for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. In the work presented it has been demonstrated that water-soluble copolymers based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate exhibit lower critical solution temperature in aqueous solutions, whereas the corresponding high molecular weight homopolymers do not have this unique property. The temperature-induced transitions observed upon heating the aqueous solutions of these copolymers proceed via liquid-liquid phase separation. The hydrogels were also synthesized by copolymerizing 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate in the absence of a bifunctional cross-linker. The cross-linking of these copolymers during copolymerization is believed to be due to the presence of bifunctional admixtures or transesterification reactions. Transparency, swelling behavior, mechanical properties, and porosity of the hydrogels are dependent upon the monomer ratio in the copolymers. Hydrogel samples containing more 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate are less transparent, have lower swelling capacity, higher elastic moduli, and pores of smaller size. The assessment of the biocompatibility of the copolymers using the slug mucosal irritation test revealed that they are also less irritant than poly(acrylic acid).
2-羟乙基甲基丙烯酸酯与 2-羟乙基丙烯酸酯的自由基共聚可成功用于合成具有优异物理化学性能的水溶性聚合物和水凝胶，从而为药物和生物医学应用提供了前景。在本工作中，已经证明基于 2-羟乙基甲基丙烯酸酯和 2-羟乙基丙烯酸酯的水溶性共聚物在水溶液中具有较低的临界溶解温度，而相应的高分子量均聚物则没有这种独特的性质。在加热这些共聚物的水溶液时观察到的温度诱导转变是通过液-液相分离进行的。还通过在不存在双官能交联剂的情况下共聚 2-羟乙基甲基丙烯酸酯和 2-羟乙基丙烯酸酯来合成水凝胶。在共聚过程中这些共聚物的交联被认为是由于存在双官能添加剂或酯交换反应。水凝胶的透明度、溶胀行为、机械性能和孔隙率取决于共聚物中单体的比例。含有更多 2-羟乙基甲基丙烯酸酯的水凝胶样品透明度较低，溶胀能力较低，弹性模量较高，且孔径较小。使用塞状粘膜刺激试验评估共聚物的生物相容性表明，它们也比聚丙烯酸的刺激性更小。
