Swelling/deswelling of anionic copolymer gels

Studies of dynamic and equilibrium swelling of ionic gels are important in understanding the diffusion of physiologically important fluids in materials for site-specific controlled drug delivery applications. The dynamic and equilibrium swelling properties of dry glassy poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-comethacrylic acid) and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-acrylic acid) polymeric networks were studied as a function of pH, ionic strength, nature of the counterion and buffer composition. The mechanism of water diffusion in these gels became more anomalous as the pH of the swelling medium increased and as the ionic strength decreased at a constant pH ≥ pKa,gel. The mechanism of water diffusion was Fickian in all unbuffered swelling media at pH 4.0, which is lower than the pKa,gel. The pKa,gel of these gels was between 5.5 and 6. At pH 4.0, the diffusion mechanism was independent of ionic strength. This swelling behaviour is explained in terms of the concept of ion osmotic swelling pressure and ion exchange kinetics.