Hydrogel microspheres II. Precipitation copolymerization of acrylamide with comonomers to prepare monodisperse hydrogel microspheres

Abstract

Precipitation polymerization of acrylamide (AAm) and methylene-bisacrylamide (MB) was carried out in alcohols. Large, bulky and porous particles were formed by the polymerization. On the contrary, copolymerization of AAm and MB with a certain amount of methacrylic acid (MAc) resulted in the formation of fine monodisperse hydrogel microspheres. This was attributed to the contribution of MAc units to the stabilization of the particles formed at the initial stage of polymerization and the enhancement of swelling of the particles by monomer and alcohol. © 1991, The Society of Polymer Science, Japan. All rights reserved.