Biocompatible poly(N-vinyllactam)-based materials with environmentally-responsive permeability

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Stimuli-responsive polymer-based materials are crucial for advanced biomedical and biotechnological applications.
• Controlling material properties like porosity is key for applications such as drug delivery and bioseparations.
• Poly(N-vinyllactam) hydrogels offer tunable swelling behavior, making them suitable for responsive membranes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare and characterize biocompatible poly(N-vinyllactam)-based composite membranes with environment-responsive properties.
• To investigate the polymerization of N-vinylcaprolactam (VCL) and its copolymers with N-vinylpyrrolidone.
• To evaluate the ionic-strength responsiveness of the modified composite membranes.

Main Methods:

• Investigated bulk polymerization of N-vinylcaprolactam (VCL) and N-vinylpyrrolidone systems via thermal and photopolymerization.
• Prepared composite membranes by polymerizing VCL-based systems onto borosilicate microfibre membranes.
• Characterized membrane properties including mass gain, spectral analysis (FTIR), and permeability changes in response to ionic strength variations.

Main Results:

• Successfully synthesized VCL-based polymers and created composite membranes.
• Demonstrated that the modified membranes exhibit changes in permeability correlated with the ionic strength of the aqueous media.
• Identified specific VCL-based systems with high reactivity suitable for membrane modification.

Conclusions:

• Poly(N-vinyllactam)-based composite membranes can be prepared with tunable porosity and ionic-strength responsiveness.
• These responsive membranes hold significant potential for applications in bioseparations and other biomedical fields.
• The swelling and de-swelling behavior of the hydrogel network effectively regulates membrane porosity.