SWELLING AND SOLUTE-PARTITIONING BEHAVIOR OF HYDROGELS

水凝胶具有重要的医学和制药应用， 特别是用于隐形眼镜材料、药物递送载体， 人造器官 这项工作涉及建立一个定量的 了解水凝胶在水中的性质， 生物学上重要的溶质。 重点是针对基本的 水凝胶溶胀和溶质的实验和理论研究， 用于指导新型材料设计的分配行为， 在医学和制药中得到应用。 通过共聚2-羟乙基， 甲基丙烯酸酯（HEMA）与选定的特种共聚单体;添加的 选择共聚单体以赋予特定的溶胀和溶解性， 分配行为的水凝胶。 这些材料的溶胀性能 水凝胶将作为水凝胶结构的函数进行测量（交叉， 连接密度、单体浓度、共聚单体浓度）和溶液 条件（温度、离子强度、pH、溶质浓度）。 溶质 将测量在不同水凝胶条件下一系列溶质的分配 和溶液条件。 选择模型溶质以涵盖范围 分子量和化学组成。 将注意 模型溶质，其分配行为在生物医学中很重要 水凝胶的应用 建立了水凝胶的分子热力学模型 水凝胶、溶质和溶液的溶胀和溶质分配行为 特性. 初步结果表明， 水凝胶弹性不能描述溶胀行为作为 单体浓度 水凝胶网络的力学测量 弹性将进行，以提供数据，这将有助于应用新的 水凝胶系统的弹性理论。 为了了解微观结构 影响水凝胶在溶液中的性能，透射电子显微镜 将用于观察作为水凝胶功能的水凝胶微观结构 化学和组成。 结构-性质关系推断， 微观结构的观察将有助于模型的开发。 这项研究将提供基本的物理化学信息， 水凝胶的性质，以及这些水凝胶与 医学上重要溶质的水溶液。 这些信息将 有助于设计和开发新型水凝胶材料， 在医学和药学上的应用。

Hydrogels have significant medical and pharmaceutical applications, particularly for contact-lens materials, drug-delivery vehicles, and artificial organs. This work is concerned with establishing a quantitative understanding of the properties of hydrogels in water which may contain biologically important solutes. Emphasis is directed at fundamental experimental and theoretical studies of hydrogel swelling and solute- partitioning behavior for guiding the design of novel materials that may find application in medicine and pharmacy. Novel hydrogels will be synthesized by copolymerizing 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with selected specialty comonomers; the added comonomers have been chosen to impart specific swelling and solute- partitioning behavior to the hydrogels. Swelling properties of these hydrogels will be measured as a function of the hydrogel structure (cross- link density, monomer concentration, comonomer concentration) and solution conditions (temperature, ionic strength, pH, solute concentration). Solute partitioning will be measured for a series of solutes at varying hydrogel and solution conditions. Model solutes have been chosen to cover a range of molecular weight and chemical constitution. Attention will be given to model solutes whose partitioning behavior is of interest in biomedical applications of hydrogels. A molecular-thermodynamic model will be established for relating hydrogel swelling and solute-partitioning behavior to hydrogel, solute, and solution properties. Preliminary results suggest that conventional models for hydrogel elasticity cannot describe swelling behavior as a function of monomer concentration. Mechanical measurements of hydrogel-network elasticity will be performed to provide data that will aid in applying new elasticity theories to hydrogel systems. To understand how microstructure affects hydrogel performance in solution, transmission electron microscopy will be used to observe hydrogel microstructure as a function of hydrogel chemistry and composition. Structure-property relationships inferred from microstructure observations will aid in model development. This research will provide fundamental physico-chemical information of the properties of hydrogels, and on the interactions of these hydrogels with aqueous solutions of medically important solutes. This information will aid in the design and development of novel hydrogel materials for applications in medicine and pharmacy.