Poly(N-vinylimidazole) gels as insoluble buffers that neutralize acid solutions without dissolving

Typical buffers are solutions containing weak acids or bases. If these groups were anchored to insoluble gels, what would be their behavior? Simple thermodynamics is used to calculate the pH in two-phase systems that contain the weak acid or base fixed to only one of the phases and is absent in the other. The experimental reference of such systems are pH sensitive hydrogels and heterogeneous systems of biological interest. It is predicted that a basic hydrogel immersed in slightly acidic solutions should absorb the acid and leave the external solution exactly neutral (pH 7). This is in accordance with experimental results of cross-linked poly(N-vinylimidazole). The pH 7 cannot be obtained if the system were homogeneous; the confinement of the weak base inside the gel phase is a requisite for this neutral pH in the external solution. The solution inside the gel is regulated to a much higher pH, which has important implications in studies on chemical reactions and physical processes taking place inside a phase insoluble but in contact with a solution.