Photopolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide with poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate and their evaluation as cell culture membrane

POLY 614

Singh Dipti, diptibhu@rediffmail.com, Centre for Polymer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, 110016, India
This paper describes the preparation and characterisation of homopolymers and copolymers of N-isopropyl acrylamide with poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA, Mn=526). Several copolymer samples were prepared by taking varying amounts of monomers i.e. NIPAAm and PEGMA in the initial feed using hydrophilic (IRGACURE) and hydrophobic (DURACURE) photoinitiator. In order to investigate the effect of reaction conditions, copolymers were prepared below/or above LCST using water or water: ethanol (50:50) as solvent and by varying the amount of crosslinker. Hydrogels prepared under different conditions were characterised for its swelling behaviour (using optical microscope) phase transition temperature (using DSC) and morphology (using SEM). As expected LCST increased with increasing amount of PEGMA and the morphology was found to be dependent on the reaction conditions. Copolymer films having an optimum combination of swelling and performance properties were evaluated as cell culture membranes. Cell growth and detachment was found to be dependent on copolymer composition.