A Novel Method for the Preparation of Poly (Acrylamide-co-Acrylonitrile) Upper Critical Solution Temperature Thermosensitive Hydrogel by the Partial Dehydration of Acrylamide Grafted Polypropylene Sheets

Yi Ling; Liuyuchen Chen; Mingjun Huang; Cheng Zhou; Liming Yang; Hejingying Niu; Li Su; Yuejiao Yang; Rogério P Pirraco; Rui L Reis; Jie Chen

doi:10.3390/gels8060345

A Novel Method for the Preparation of Poly (Acrylamide-co-Acrylonitrile) Upper Critical Solution Temperature Thermosensitive Hydrogel by the Partial Dehydration of Acrylamide Grafted Polypropylene Sheets

Gels. 2022 May 31;8(6):345. doi: 10.3390/gels8060345.

Authors

Yi Ling¹, Liuyuchen Chen¹, Mingjun Huang¹, Cheng Zhou¹, Liming Yang¹, Hejingying Niu¹, Li Su², Yuejiao Yang^{1

3}, Rogério P Pirraco⁴, Rui L Reis⁴, Jie Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shangda Road 99, Shanghai 200444, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shangda Road 99, Shanghai 200444, China.
³ BIOtech Research Center, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Via Delle Regole 101, 38123 Trento, Italy.
⁴ 3B's Research Group-Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, AvePark-Zona Industrial da Gandra, Barco, 4805-017 Guimarães, Portugal.

Abstract

In an attempt to find a potential application of cell culture harvesting, a novel method for the preparation of an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) thermosensitive hydrogel was studied. An electron accelerator was used as the electron beam (EB) radiation source, and acrylamide (AAm) was first grafted onto the pre-irradiated polypropylene (PP) sheet. Then, the grafting layer of poly (acrylamide-co-acrylonitrile) (P (AAm-co-AN)) was obtained by the partial dehydration of the acylamino group into the cyano group in the solution mixture of sulfoxide chloride (SOCl₂) and dimethyl formamide (DMF). The effects of the absorbed dose, AAm concentration, reaction time, and temperature on the degree of grafting were studied, respectively. The effect of the SOCl₂ concentration on the conversion degree of the cyano group from the acylamino group was studied, followed by the temperature of the UCST. The UCST properties of the grafted samples with P (AAm-co-AN) were studied by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively. The cytotoxicities of the hydrogels against cells were verified by CCK-8 studies.

Keywords: P (AAm-co-AN); UCST; cytotoxicity; pre-irradiation grafting; thermosensitive.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.