• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.126-135
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• 2021

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels are being extensively studied to alter their physiochemical properties in response to external changes such as temperature, pH, light and mechanical stress. This study reports multi-responsive hydrogel having optical change response to external stress. First, we synthesized a novel spiropyran cross-linker successfully by grafting poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) on both side of spiropyran and introduced to hydrogel. In the results, the yellow spriopyran structure was conversed to purple merocyaine structure by internal stress during swelling of the hydrogels cross-linked with the SP-PEGDAs. Also, the hydrogel could be visualized the swelling and deswelling process in response to pH, by converting MC and prontonated MC structure.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.42-45
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• 2001

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.256-262
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• 2012

Hyaluronic acid(HA) hydrogels were synthesized by immersing HA microbeads in phosphate buffered saline solutions having different pH levels to assess the effect of pH on the swelling ratio of HA hydrogels for smart drug delivery systems. No beads were formed when the HA solution(below pH 9) was crosslinked with divinyl sulfone(DVS) because DVS is a basic solution. The variation regarding the size of the microbead was not significant, suggesting that the bead size is not a function of pH(10 ~ 14). However, the pore size of the microbeads decreased with increasing pH from 10 to 14, leading to the surface smoothness and dense network as a result of higher crosslinking. The swelling ratio of hydrogels increased when the pH rose from 2(acidic) to 6(neutral). Afterwards, it decreased with further increasing pH(basic). The lower swelling ratio may be due to the lack of ionization of the carboxyl groups. On the other hand, a higher swelling ratio is likely due to the increased electrostatic repulsions between negatively charged carboxyl groups on different chains. Experimental results suggested that pH-responsive HA hydrogels can be applicable to the controlled drug delivery systems.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.245-250
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• 2010

Porous poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres (PLGA MS) have been utilized as an inhalation delivery system and a matrix scaffold system for tissue engineering. Here, gelatin (type A) is introduced as an extractable pH-responsive porogen, which is capable of controlling the porosity and pore size of PLGA microspheres. Porous PLGA microspheres were prepared by a water-in-oil-in-water ($w_1/o/w_2$) double emulsification/solvent evaporation method. The surface morphology of these microspheres was examined by varying pH (2.0~11.0) of water phases, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also, their porosity and pore size were monitored by altering acidification time (1~5 h) using a phosphoric acid solution. Results showed that the pore-forming capability of gelatin was optimized at pH 5.0, and that the surface pore-formation was not significantly observed at pHs of < 4.0 or > 8.0. This was attributable to the balance between gel-formation by electrostatic repulsion and dissolution of gelatin. The appropriate time-selection between PLGA hardening and gelatin-washing out was considered as a second significant factor to control the porosity. Delaying the acidification time to ~5 h after emulsification was clearly effective to make pores in the microspheres. This finding suggests that the porosity and pore size of porous microspheres using gelatin can be significantly controlled depending on water phase pH and gelatin-removal time. The results obtained in this study would provide valuable pharmaceutical information to prepare porous PLGA MS, which is required to control the porosity.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.570-575
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• 2023

Targeted anticancer drug delivery systems are needed to enhance therapeutic efficacy by selectively delivering drugs to tumor cells while minimizing off-target effects, improving treatment outcomes and reducing toxicity. In this study, a silica-based nanocarrier capable of targeting drug delivery to cancer cells was developed. First, silica nanoparticles were synthesized by the Stöber method using the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Increasing the ratio of EtOH in the solvent produced uniformly spherical silica nanoparticles. Washing the nanoparticles removed unreacted residues, resulting in a non-toxic carrier for drug delivery in cells. Upon surface modification, the pH-responsive polymer, polyethyleneimine (PEI) exhibited slow doxorubicin release at pH 7.4 and accelerated release at pH 5.5. By exploiting this feature, we developed a system capable of targeted drug release in the acidic tumor microenvironment.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.441-445
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• 2009

In order to develop an intelligent delivery system for cosmetic active agents (e.g., arbutin, ascorbic acid, and adenosine), pH-responsive P(MAA-co-PEGMA) hydrogel particles having an average size of approx. $2{\mu}m$ and spherical shape were synthesized via dispersion photopolymerization. There was a drastic change in the swelling ratio of P (MAA-co-PEGMA) hydro gels at a pH 5, which is the $pK_a$ of the hydrogel. To determine the factors that have an effect on the loading of cosmetic active agents into the hydrogel, the loading efficiency of the active agents was investigated at various MAA and EG compositions of the hydrogel and the loading pH conditions. When the MAA contents in the hydrogel decreased, the loading efficiency of the active agents increased. In loading experiments with different pH conditions, the active agents showed higher loading efficiency into the hydrogel at the pH where the hydrogel was at the swollen state than at the pH where the electrostatic repulsion was minimized.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.226-231
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• 2014

This study presents a micromolding for the synthesis of Janus particles with reconfigurable shape by pH stimuli. First, we use acrylic acid (AA) as pH responsive monomer in the hydrophilic part and trimethylolpropane triacylate (TMPTA) in the hydrophobic part, respectively. The change of acidity in solvent induces the swelling of hydrophilic part in the Janus particles. The pH-responsive Janus particles show different swelling ratio of hydrophilic part in according to composition of acrylic acid in diverse range (0-70% v/v) and pH (3-11). As the concentration of acrylic acid in the hydrophilic part and environmental pH increase, the hydrophilic part in the Janus particles is proportionally swelled. Second, we fabricate novel type of Janus particles with two different hydrophilicities. As a proof of concept, we have applied acrylic acid (AA) and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DAEMA) into each part because the monomers provide reverse responsive activity. As expected, these Janus particles show different shape anisotropies with reconfigurable property in accordance with the polarity of each part at same acidity of environmental solvent. We envision that the stimuli responsive Janus particles have a wide application from fundamental science to diagnostic apparatus.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1800-1808
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• 2013

Dual-responsive amphiphilic block copolymers were synthesized by combining enzymatic ring-opening polymerization (eROP) of ${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone (CL) and ATRP of N,N-dimethylamino-2-ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). The obtained block copolymers were characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), $^1H$ NMR and FTIR-IR. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of copolymer was determined by fluorescence spectra, it can be found that with hydrophilic block (PDMAEMA) increasing, CMC value of the polymer sample increased accordingly, and the CMC value was 0.012 mg/mL, 0.025 mg/mL and 0.037 mg/mL for $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{68}$, $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{89}$, $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{112}$, $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{89}$ was chosen as drug carrier to study in vitro release profile of anti-cancer drug (taxol). The temperature and pH dependence of the values of hydrodynamic diameter (Dh) of micelles, and self-assembly of the resulting block copolymers in water were evaluated by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The result showed that with the temperature increasing and pH decreasing, the Dh decreased. Drug-loaded nanoparticles were fabricated using paclitaxel as model. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) had been explored to study the morphology of the hollow micelles and the nanoparticles, revealing well-dispersed spheres with the average diameters both around 80 nm. In vitro release kinetics of paclitaxel from the nanoparticles was also investigated in different conditions (pH and temperature, etc.), revealing that the drug release was triggered by temperature changes upon the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at pH 7.4, and at $37^{\circ}C$ by an increase of pH.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.261-261
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• 2010

Photonic band gap (PBG) materials have been of great interest due to their potential applications in science and technology. Their applications can be further extended when PBG becomes tunable against various chemical and electrical stimuli. In recent, it was found that tunable photonic band gap materials can be achieved by incorporating stimuli-responsive smart gels into PBG materials. For example, the characteristic volume phase transition of gels in response to the various external stimuli including temperature, pH, ionic strength, solvent compositions and electric field were recently combined with the unique optical properties of photonic crystals to form unprecedented highly responsive optical components. Since these responsive photonic crystals are capable of reversibly converting chemical or electrical energy into characteristic optical signals, they have been considered as a good platform for label-free chemical or biological detection, actuators or optical switches as well as a model system for investigating gel swelling behavior. Herein, we report block copolymer photonic gels self-assembled from polystyrene-b-poly (2-vinyl pyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) block copolymers. In this talk, we are going to demonstrate that selective swelling of lamellar structure can be effectively utilized for fabricating PBG materials with extremely large tunability. Optical properties and their applications will be discussed.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.489-491
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• 2008

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