Characterization of poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels formed via Click chemistry

POLY 415

Nalini Gupta, ngupta@engineering.ucsb.edu1, Robert Vestberg, robertv@mrl.ucsb.edu1, Michael Malkoch1, Sherry Hikita2, Raymond Thibault3, Mark Lingwood4, Evan McCarney4, Song-I Han4, Dennis Clegg2, and Craig J. Hawker5. (1) Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, (2) Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, (3) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, (4) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, (5) Materials Research Laboratory, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogel networks were crosslinked by tetra-functionalized azides with di-functionalized acetylenes through the highly efficient, copper catalyzed Click chemistry. The pore structure was characterized with cryo-SEM and was compared with hydrogels formed through UV-irradiation crosslinking, of similar molecular weight between crosslinks. It was found that the internal structure of the Click hydrogels was more uniform than the UV-irradiated analog, with a narrow pore size distribution between 5-20 microns, as compared a pore distribution from less than 1 micron to 20 micron pores for the UV-irradiated hydrogels. Hydrogels were also formed at lower copper concentrations to prepare hydrogels for biological systems, since high copper concentrations can affect cell viability.
 

7th International Biorelated Polymers Symposium
6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Poster

Sci-Mix
8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday, 11 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Sci-Mix

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006