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Raman spectroscopy study on influence of network architecture on hydration of poly(2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) hydrogels
Author(s) -
Olejniczak Magdale.,
Kozanecki Marcin,
Saramak Jakub,
Matusiak Malgorzata,
Kadlubowski Slawomir,
Matyjaszewski Krzysztof
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of raman spectroscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.748
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1097-4555
pISSN - 0377-0486
DOI - 10.1002/jrs.5048
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , methacrylate , polymer , polymerization , polymer chemistry , raman spectroscopy , materials science , radical polymerization , atom transfer radical polymerization , chemical engineering , thermal stability , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , physics , optics , engineering
Thermo‐responsive polymer hydrogels attract a great attention because of their unique behavior in response to changes in the thermal environment. It is related to metastable intermolecular interactions resulting in volume phase transitions (VPT). The hydration of poly(2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) (PMEO 2 MA)‐based materials was studied by Raman spectroscopy and further supported by density functional theory calculations. Hydrogels based on random networks prepared via radiation‐induced free radical polymerization and cross‐linking were compared with hydrogels with more regular structure formed by atom transfer radical polymerization. Two types of regular networks were studied: bare one and decorated by linear dangling chains. It was found that both, the total bound water surrounding the polymer chains (~11 H 2 O per polymer unit) and accessibility of CO groups for water molecules, are independent of topology of PMEO 2 MA network. Contrarily, network architecture strongly influences CO–water complex stability, which decreases in a following order: regular bare network, irregular bare network, regular decorated network. It was also shown that the stability of CO–water complex is correlated with VPT temperature in PMEO 2 MA hydrogels. These studies prove a key role of polymer hydration in its thermo‐responsive properties. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.