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Sala RL, Venâncio T, Camargo ER. Probing the Structural Dynamics of the Coil-Globule Transition of Thermosensitive Nanocomposite Hydrogels. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2021; 37:1531-1541. [PMID: 33481601 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Nanocomposite hydrogels have emerged to exhibit multipurpose properties, boosting especially the biomaterial field. However, the development and characterization of these materials can be a challenge, especially stimuli-sensitive materials with dynamic properties in response to external stimuli. By employing UV-vis spectroscopy and NMR relaxation techniques, we could outline the formation and behavior of thermosensitive nanocomposites obtained by in situ polymerization of poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PNVCL) and mesoporous silica nanofibers under temperature stimuli. For instance, inorganic nanoparticles covalently linked to PNVCL changed the pattern of temperature-induced phase transition despite showing similar critical temperatures to neat PNVCL. Thermodynamic parameters indicated the formation of an interconnected system of silica and polymer chains with reduced enthalpic contribution and mobility. The investigation of water molecule and polymer segment motions also revealed that the absorption and release of water happened in a wider temperature range for the nanocomposites, and the polymer segments respond in different ways during the phase transition in the presence of silica. This set of techniques was essential to reveal the polymer motions and structural features in nanocomposite hydrogels under temperature stimuli, demonstrating its potential use as experimental guideline to study multicomponent nanocomposites with diverse functionalities and dynamic properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renata L Sala
- Department of Chemistry, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Rod. Washington Luis km 235, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
| | - Tiago Venâncio
- Department of Chemistry, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Rod. Washington Luis km 235, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
| | - Emerson R Camargo
- Department of Chemistry, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Rod. Washington Luis km 235, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
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Saha P, Santi M, Emondts M, Roth H, Rahimi K, Großkurth J, Ganguly R, Wessling M, Singha NK, Pich A. Stimuli-Responsive Zwitterionic Core-Shell Microgels for Antifouling Surface Coatings. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2020; 12:58223-58238. [PMID: 33331763 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c17427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Fouling on filtration membranes is induced by the nonspecific interactions between the membrane surface and the foulants, and effectively hinders their efficient use in various applications. Here, we established a facile method for the coating of membrane surface with a dual stimuli-responsive antifouling microgel system enriched with a high polyzwitterion content. Different poly(sulfobetaine) (PSB) zwitterionic polymers with defined molecular weights and narrow dispersities were synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and integrated onto poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) microgels via a controlled dosage of a cross-linker, adapting a precipitation polymerization technique to obtain a core-shell microstructure. Increasing the PSB macro-RAFT concentration resulted in a shift of both upper critical solution temperature and lower critical solution temperature toward higher temperatures. Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy at different temperatures suggested the formation of a core-shell morphology with a PVCL-rich core and a PSB-rich shell. On the other hand, the significant variations of different characteristic proton signals and reversible phase transitions of the microgel constituents were confirmed by temperature-dependent 1H NMR studies. Utilizing a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, we have been able to observe and quantitatively describe the antipolyelectrolyte behavior of the zwitterionic microgels. The oscillation frequency of the sensor proved to change reversibly according to the variations of the NaCl concentration, showing, in fact, the effect of the interaction between the salt and the opposite charges present in the microgel deposited on the sensor. Poly(ethersulfone) membranes, chosen as the model surface, when functionalized with zwitterionic microgel coatings, displayed protein-repelling property, stimulated by different transition temperatures, and showed even better performances at increasing NaCl concentration. These kinds of stimuli-responsive zwitterionic microgel can act as temperature-triggered drug delivery systems and as potential coating materials to prevent bioadhesion and biofouling as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pabitra Saha
- DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen 52056, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry (ITMC), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
| | - Marta Santi
- DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen 52056, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry (ITMC), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
| | - Meike Emondts
- DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen 52056, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry (ITMC), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
| | - Hannah Roth
- DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen 52056, Germany
- Chemical Process Engineering AVT.CVT, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
| | - Khosrow Rahimi
- DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen 52056, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry (ITMC), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
| | | | - Ritabrata Ganguly
- Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India
| | - Matthias Wessling
- DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen 52056, Germany
- Chemical Process Engineering AVT.CVT, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
| | - Nikhil K Singha
- Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India
| | - Andrij Pich
- DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen 52056, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry (ITMC), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
- Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), Maastricht University, Maastricht 6229 GT, The Netherlands
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Agnihotri P, Raj R, Kumar D, Dan A. Short oligo(ethylene glycol) chain incorporated thermoresponsive microgels: from structural analysis to modulation of solution properties. SOFT MATTER 2020; 16:7845-7859. [PMID: 32756713 DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01187h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Herein, we report synthesis of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylaccrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgels with short oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) chain comonomers (1 to 4/5 repeating unit) by surfactant-free precipitation copolymerization. The efficient incorporation of the comonomers was confirmed by a complete set of characterization methods viz., FTIR, 1H NMR, TEM, DLS, and viscometry. The structural heterogeneity and the distribution of the comonomers within the microgels were determined by means of 1H high-resolution transverse relaxation magnetization measurements. Interestingly, the incorporation of these short OEG chain comonomers led to the formation of a core-corona structure, in which the comonomers were mainly located in the core of the polymeric network with PNIPAM dangling chains at the microgel periphery. The experimental investigations of deswelling behaviours revealed that the OEG chains allowed precise control over the colloidal properties, including phase transition, particles size, swelling degree and polydispersity of the microgels. The tuneability of these properties that was interpreted in terms of polymeric hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance as well as structural diversity, could be achieved by changing the OEG chain length, comonomer feed and crosslinking density. Further, we found that the microgels with more hydrophilic OEG chains were able to show a higher relative swelling, and the same solid content thus led to a higher viscosity at all temperatures. The OEG chains remarkably improved the colloidal stability of the microgels in electrolyte solutions even at higher temperatures, thereby paving the way for the use of these microgels in a range of applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priyanshi Agnihotri
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Advanced Studies in Chemistry, Panjab University - Chandigarh, Sector 14, Chandigarh 160014, India.
| | - Ritu Raj
- Centre of Biomedical Research (CBMR), SGPGIMS Campus, Raibareli Road, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Dinesh Kumar
- Centre of Biomedical Research (CBMR), SGPGIMS Campus, Raibareli Road, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Abhijit Dan
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Advanced Studies in Chemistry, Panjab University - Chandigarh, Sector 14, Chandigarh 160014, India.
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Saha P, Santi M, Frenken M, Palanisamy AR, Ganguly R, Singha NK, Pich A. Dual-Temperature-Responsive Microgels from a Zwitterionic Functional Graft Copolymer with Superior Protein Repelling Property. ACS Macro Lett 2020; 9:895-901. [PMID: 35648523 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
In this work, we developed a synthetic strategy to synthesize dual-temperature-responsive low surface fouling zwitterionic microgels. Statistical poly(N-vinylcaprolactam-co-glycidyl methacrylate) copolymers were synthesized by RAFT polymerization and post-modified by thiol-epoxy click reaction with thiol end-group-modified poly(sulfobetaine) macro-RAFT (PSB-SH) to obtain poly(N-vinylcaprolactam-co-glycidyl methacrylate)-graft-poly(sulfobetaine) (PVCL-co-PGMA-g-PSB) graft copolymers. Synthesized graft copolymers were cross-linked by diamine cross-linker in water-in-oil (w/o) inverse mini-emulsion to obtain zwitterionic microgels. Using this approach, we synthesized microgels with unique microstructure, high loading and uniform distribution of poly(sulfobetaine) chains, which exhibits tunable dual-volume phase transition temperatures. The microgels also showed excellent antifouling property reflected in strongly reduced protein absorption on a microgel-coated surface observed in real time by a Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) monitoring experiment with continuous flow of protein solution. Therefore, this kind of zwitterionic microgel can be potentially used for temperature-triggered drug delivery and anti-bioadhesion coating material as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pabitra Saha
- DWI − Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Marta Santi
- DWI − Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Martin Frenken
- DWI − Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany
| | - Anand Raj Palanisamy
- DWI − Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany
- Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
| | - Ritabrata Ganguly
- Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
| | - Nikhil K. Singha
- Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
| | - Andrij Pich
- DWI − Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany
- Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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Gumerov RA, Gau E, Xu W, Melle A, Filippov SA, Sorokina AS, Wolter NA, Pich A, Potemkin II. Amphiphilic PVCL/TBCHA microgels: From synthesis to characterization in a highly selective solvent. J Colloid Interface Sci 2020; 564:344-356. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.12.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2019] [Revised: 12/26/2019] [Accepted: 12/27/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Hoffmann M, Gau E, Braun S, Pich A, Elling L. Enzymatic Synthesis of 2-(β-Galactosyl)-ethyl Methacrylate by β-Galactosidase from Pyrococcus woesei and Application for Glycopolymer Synthesis and Lectin Studies. Biomacromolecules 2020; 21:974-987. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.9b01647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Marius Hoffmann
- Laboratory for Biomaterials, Institute for Biotechnology and Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße. 20, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Gau
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany
- DWI—Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Susanne Braun
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany
- DWI—Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Andrij Pich
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany
- DWI—Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52074 Aachen, Germany
- Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), Maastricht University, Brightlands Chemelot Campus, Urmonderbaan 22, 6167 RD Geleen, The Netherlands
| | - Lothar Elling
- Laboratory for Biomaterials, Institute for Biotechnology and Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße. 20, 52074 Aachen, Germany
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Agrawal G, Samal SK, Sethi SK, Manik G, Agrawal R. Microgel/silica hybrid colloids: Bioinspired synthesis and controlled release application. POLYMER 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2019.121599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Agrawal G, Agrawal R. Functional Microgels: Recent Advances in Their Biomedical Applications. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2018; 14:e1801724. [PMID: 30035853 DOI: 10.1002/smll.201801724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2018] [Revised: 06/11/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Here, a spotlight is shown on aqueous microgel particles which exhibit a great potential for various biomedical applications such as drug delivery, cell imaging, and tissue engineering. Herein, different synthetic methods to develop microgels with desirable functionality and properties along with degradable strategies to ensure their renal clearance are briefly presented. A special focus is given on the ability of microgels to respond to various stimuli such as temperature, pH, redox potential, magnetic field, light, etc., which helps not only to adjust their physical and chemical properties, and degradability on demand, but also the release of encapsulated bioactive molecules and thus making them suitable for drug delivery. Furthermore, recent developments in using the functional microgels for cell imaging and tissue regeneration are reviewed. The results reviewed here encourage the development of a new class of microgels which are able to intelligently perform in a complex biological environment. Finally, various challenges and possibilities are discussed in order to achieve their successful clinical use in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Garima Agrawal
- Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Saharanpur Campus, Paper Mill Road, Saharanpur, 247001, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Rahul Agrawal
- Laboratory of Pathology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892-1500, USA
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