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Temperature/pH‐Sensitive Hydrogels Prepared from Pluronic Copolymers End‐Capped with Carboxylic Acid Groups via an Oligolactide Spacer
Author(s) -
Park Sung Young,
Lee Yuhan,
Bae Ki Hyun,
Ahn CheolHee,
Park Tae Gwan
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200600914
Subject(s) - copolymer , poloxamer , self healing hydrogels , carboxylic acid , polymer chemistry , sol gel , chemistry , end group , materials science , micelle , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , aqueous solution , polymer , nanotechnology , engineering
The Pluronic F127 triblock copolymer was end‐capped by carboxyl groups using a degradable oligolactide as a spacer to confer pH‐ and thermo‐sensitive properties. With increasing chain length of the oligolactide, the temperature‐dependent sol‐gel transition curve was significantly shifted to higher concentration with concomitant narrowing of the gelation temperature range. Carboxylic acid end‐capped Pluronic also exhibited a peculiar pH‐dependent sol‐gel transition behavior. At 37 °C, sharp gel‐to‐sol and sol‐to‐gel transitions were observed around pH = 4.8 and 8.2, respectively. The pH‐dependent phase transition was caused by introduction of carboxylic acid groups at the ends of Pluronic F127.