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Updated: May 16, 2026

Synthesis of Thermogelling Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-graft-chondroitin Sulfate Composites with Alginate Microparticles for Tissue Engineering
Published on: October 26, 2016
A convenient way to synthesize comb-shaped chitosan-graft-poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymer
Chen Chen1, Mingzhu Liu, Chunmei Gao
1State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, and Department of Chemistry, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Comb-shaped copolymers comprised of hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks are self-assembled in aqueous solution, which results that they are suitable for delivery of hydrophobic drug molecules. Chitosan (CS) is an important biomaterial used widely in medical applications. Herein, a comb-shaped cationic copolymer composed of long biocompatible CS main chains and short PNIPAAm side chains was prepared via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) by attaching an ATRP initiating group to N-phthaloyl chitosan. By subsequent removal of the protective groups on N-phthaloyl chitosan-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PHCS-g-PNIPAAm) copolymer with N(2)H(4)·H(2)O lead to the polymer pendant amino groups, this study attempted to synthesize a pH/temperature multi-responsive material. This chitosan-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (CS-g-PNIPAAm) copolymer is self-assembled in aqueous solution into stimuli-responsive core-shell micelles with hydrodynamic diameters of about 170 nm. Structural organization and solution behavior were then investigated utilizing (1)H NMR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS).
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