THERMO-SENSITIVITY OF N-VINYL PYRROLODONE-CO-2- HYDROXYETHYLMETHACRYLATE HYDROGELS

The copolymerization of HEMA with different hydrophilic and hydrophobic co-monomers allows for the manipulation of their intrinsic properties. 2-Hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA)-based hydrogels thus are of great interest due to their outstanding physico-mechanical properties and chemical stability. The idea to use HEMA in order to create thermo-sensitive polymers was based on our assumption that thermal-sensitivity comes from a suitable hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance of macromolecules. In this work we have chosen N-vinyl pyrrolidone as a hydrophilic co-monomer with the relatively hydrophobic HEMA due to its good polymerizing properties as well as its non-toxicity in a polymer state and deserved recognition as a biocompatible material. As a result, copolymerization of NVP and HEMA was successful in obtaining new types of thermo-sensitive polymers composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers.