Enhancing and controlling the critical attributes of poly (N‐vinylcaprolactam) through electron beam irradiation for biomedical applications

Abstract

The primary aim of this body of work is to investigate the effect of an industrial scale electron beam sterilization process on novel PNVCL-based smart polymers. There is limited literature available that examines the effects of modifying PNVCL by electron beam irradiation, and as a means of potentially enhancing properties such as the lower critical solution temperature and mechanical behavior. Physically crosslinked poly(N-vinylcaprolactam)-vinyl acetate (PNVCL-VAc) copolymers were prepared by photopolymerization and were subsequently exposed to ionizing radiation via electron beam technology. The mechanical characteristics and phase transitions of the physically crosslinked PNVCL samples were tailored by controlling the electron beam irradiation dose. Importantly, PNVCL and PNVCL-VAc samples (5 wt % in solution) underwent a phase transition between 33.5 and 26.5 C, following electron beam irradiation. Furthermore, all samples displayed a Young's modulus between 1024.3 and 1516.4 MPa depending on the addition of copolymer and electron beam irradiation dose. The industrial scale electron beam sterilization process proved successful in enhancing/modifying many key smart polymer properties, and this ability to formulate and sterilize in one step could prove a very attractive approach for many biomedical applications.

Modulation of the Lower Critical Solution Temperature of Thermoresponsive Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) Utilizing Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Monomers

“…As shown in the spectra of the resultant copolymer, however, these peaks disappear, again indicative of successful polymerisation. These findings align with other studies involving the successful polymerisation of PNVCL [ 39 , 40 ].…”

Synthesis and Characterisation of Hydrogels Based on Poly (N-Vinylcaprolactam) with Diethylene Glycol Diacrylate

“…This proves that through the incorporation of DEGDA, the samples became stiffer and less stretchable. Based on the literature, the copolymer consisting of 90 wt% NVCL and 10 wt% VAc exhibits a modulus of around 1 GPa, a UTS of 29 MPa, and a percentage elongation of 2.6% [ 51 ]. Correspondingly, the fabricated S6 and S7 samples that contained 20% and 40% of VAc show a decreasing trend in the tensile modulus and UTS with increasing VAc concentration; yet, such numbers are relatively lower than the literature due to higher VAc concentrations.…”

Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) containing solid lipid polymer hybrid nanoparticles for controlled delivery of a hydrophilic drug gemcitabine hydrochloride

“…As PVCL tends to absorb moisture, a broad peak corresponding to O–H stretching was observed at 3473 cm −1 . 40 PVCL is known to possess temperature-responsive property hence cloud point of the synthesized PVCL was determined by measuring the change in transmittance with temperature and was obtained as 34 °C (Fig. S5 † ).…”