Water-swelling behavior of hydrophobic porous copolymer resins composed of two kinds of crosslinkers

Water-swellable elastomers: synthesis, properties and applications

Water-swellable elastomers (WSE) constitute a class of rubbery materials that have been widely studied both in academia and industry during the last 25 years. Market pull is the major driver for the exploration of these materials. The need of WSE in several sealing applications has driven the attention of many academic researchers toward the possibility to provide a rubber with water-swelling characteristics. As commercial rubbers are hydrophobic materials, making them swell in water presents an interesting and difficult challenge. This paper reviews the scientific and patent literature on the fundamental aspects of WSE: the various synthetic approaches, the properties of the corresponding polymers (not only the swelling performance but also the mechanical behavior), and some of their applications. Particular attention is paid to the chemical structure/performance relationships of WSE. Finally, the authors speculate on a great future for WSE that can be rationally designed for improved and/or new applications.

Swellable functional hypercrosslinked polymer networks for the uptake of chemical warfare agents

Porous materials can be used as sorbents for the bulk uptake (and potential deactivation) of chemical warfare agents (CWAs).

Preparation and characterization of polar polymeric adsorbents with high surface area for the removal of phenol from water

Preparation of methyl methacrylate (MMA)/divinylbenzene (DVB) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA)/DVB copolymers via suspension polymerization yielded precursors which possess residual vinyl groups. Post-crosslinking of appropriate dichloroethane swollen precursors without external crosslinking agent in the presence of anhydrous ferric chloride (FeCl(3)) yielded post-crosslinked resins with high surface area and suitable polarity. FT-IR spectrum indicated that increasing the proportion of MMA or EGDMA in monomer mixtures notably reduces the amount of the pendant vinyl groups onto the matrix of the precursors. Furthermore, the pendant vinyl groups of precursors were almost absent when the content of MMA and EGDMA increased to 40 mol% and 20 mol% in the monomers, respectively. The specific surface areas and pore volumes of copolymers showed a remarkable increase after post-crosslinking. Experimental results showed that isotherms of phenol adsorption onto these polymeric adsorbents could be represented by Freundlich model and Langmuir model reasonably. PDE-5 pc exhibited higher adsorption capacity of phenol than other adsorbents, which resulted from synergistic effect of larger specific surface area and polar groups onto the network. Column adsorption/desorption dynamic curves suggested that PDE-5 pc is a potential candidate for treatment of chemical effluent containing phenol and phenolic pollutants.

Release and diffusional modeling of metronidazole lipid matrices

In this study, the first aim was to investigate the swelling and relaxation properties of lipid matrix on diffusional exponent (n). The second aim was to determine the desired release profile of metronidazole lipid matrix tablets. We prepared metronidazole lipid matrix granules using Carnauba wax, Beeswax, Stearic acid, Cutina HR, Precirol ATO 5, and Compritol ATO 888 by hot fusion method and pressed the tablets of these granules. In vitro release test was performed using a standard USP dissolution apparatus I (basket method) with a stirring rate of 100 rpm at 37 degrees C in 900 ml of 0.1 N hydrochloric acid, adjusted to pH 1.2, as medium for the formulations' screening. Hardness, diameter-height ratio, friability, and swelling ratio were determined. Target release profile of metronidazole was also drawn. Stearic acid showed the highest and Carnauba wax showed the lowest release rates in all formulations used. Swelling ratios were calculated after the dissolution of tablets as 9.24%, 6.03%, 1.74%, and 1.07% for Cutina HR, Beeswax, Precirol ATO 5, and Compritol ATO 888, respectively. There was erosion in Stearic acid, but neither erosion nor swelling in Carnauba wax, was detected. According to the power law analysis, the diffusion mechanism was expressed as pure Fickian for Stearic acid and Carnauba wax and the coupling of Fickian and relaxation contributions for other Cutina HR, Beeswax, Compritol ATO 888, and Precirol ATO 5 tablets. It was found that Beeswax (kd=2.13) has a very close drug release rate with the target profile (kt=1.95). Our results suggested that swelling and relaxation properties of lipid matrices should be examined together for a correct evaluation on drug diffusion mechanism of insoluble matrices.