Synthesis and swelling peculiarities of new hydrogels based on the macromolecular reaction of anhydride copolymers with γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane.

This work describes the synthesis and macromolecular reactions of maleic anhydride (MA)-acrylamide (AAm) binary and MA-vinyl acetate (VA)- AAm ternary reactive copolymers with γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) as a polyfunctional crosslinker. Swelling parameters such as the start-time of the hydrogel-formation, initial rate of swelling, swelling rate constant, equilibrium swelling, and equilibrium water content (EWC) are determined for polymers/APTS/water systems with certain copolymer/crosslinker ratios (1.4/1 and 9/1). The formation of a hyperbranched network structure by the fragmentation of the side-chain reactive groups in the systems studied has also been confirmed by the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) method.