Syntheses of hydrophobically modified cationic hydrogels by copolymerization of alkyl substituted diallylamine monomers and their use as bile acid sequestrants

A novel class of cationic hydrogels bearing cyclic structures along the polymer backbone has been prepared and these hydrogels have been evaluated as bile acid sequestrants in vivo. The polymeric gels were prepared by the crosslinking cyclocopolymerization of hydrophobically modified dialkyldiallylammonium salts in the presence of different multifunctional crosslinking monomers. The roles of various crosslinking monomers, concentrations of crosslinking monomers, as well as alkyl chain length of dialkyldiallylammonium monomers on the physicochemical properties of the resulting hydrogels have been evaluated. From these preliminary in vivo studies it appears that these cationic hydrogels are excellent bile acid sequestrants and promising cholesterol lowering agents.