Non-fouling Hydrogels of 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate and Zwitterionic Carboxybetaine (Meth)acrylamides

Abstract

Five poly(betaine) brushes were prepared, and their resistance to blood plasma fouling was studied. Two carboxybetaines monomers were copolymerized with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) to prepare novel hydrogels. By increasing the content of the zwitterionic comonomer, a 4-fold increase in the water content could be achieved while retaining mechanical properties close to the widely used poly(HEMA) hydrogels. All hydrogels showed an unprecedentedly low fouling from blood plasma. Remarkably, by copolymerization with 10 mol % of carboxybetaine acrylamide, hydrogels fully resistant to blood plasma were prepared.

Recent advances of zwitterionic carboxybetaine materials and their derivatives

“…One commonly used method is to add a second component via either copolymerization of zwitterionic monomer(s) with non-ionic monomer(s), such as hydroxyethyl methacrylate [36,37] or blending with other (nano)composites, such as clay. [38] However, resulting products will no longer be pure zwitterionic materials and their antifouling properties might be compromised due to the introduced nonzwitterionic moieties with lower antifouling properties.…”

Zwitteration: Coating Surfaces with Zwitterionic Functionality to Reduce Nonspecific Adsorption

“…63 Bacterial adhesion was also inhibited. 64 Since about 2009 the number of works employing graft polymerization of polyzwitterions from/to surfaces has increased dramatically, as witnessed by grafting from silicon nitride, 49,65 polypropylene membranes, 66 various surfaces using a bioinspired peptide initiator, 67 indium tin oxide conducting glass, 48 gold, 68 hydrogels, 69 filtration membranes, 70 conducting polymers, 71 cellulose membranes, 72 and polysulfone membranes. 73 …”

Investigation of Thermal Degradation Kinetics of Poly(Ɛ-caprolactone) Grafted onto PEMA-co-PHEMA

“…[2][3][4]. PHEMA have high chemical stability, good biocompatibility, excellent mechanical properties and hydrophilic character [5][6][7].…”