Fabrication of a novel temperature sensitive poly(N-isopropyl-3-butenamide) hydrogel

To investigate the temperature sensitive mechanism and develop temperature sensitive materials, a novel poly(N-isopropyl-3-butenamide) (PNIPBAm) hydrogel was designed and synthesized. The maximum swelling ratio, temperature dependence of swelling ratio and deswelling/reswelling kinetics of the resulted PNIPBAm hydrogel were characterized. The data obtained exhibited that the temperature sensitivity of the PNIPBAm hydrogel depended on the amount of crosslinker, i.e. the temperature sensitivity decreased with the increasing content of crosslinker. This novel temperature sensitive hydrogel would have the potential applications in bioengineering and biotechnology fields.