Poly(2-Hydroxy Ethyl Methacrylate-co-Acrylic Acid) as Novel Biodegradable Macroporous Hydrogel

Hydrogels of macroporous copolymer, 2-hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate with acrylic acid, were prepared in the presence of N,N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide as crosslinker and benzoyl peroxide as initiator. The structure of the copolymer was characterized by FT-IR, H ¹ -NMR and scanning electron microscopy and the thermal stability by thermogravimetric analysis. Its hydrogel character was observed by studying the swelling of the copolymers simply by measuring weight gain and weight loss. The swelling was determined in distilled water, saline solution and buffers of pH, 4 and 9.2, was found to increase with increasing pH, attaining a maximum at pH 9.2. The biodegradability of the copolymers was studied by introducing microbes to the culture media along with the prepared sample and it was verified by examining the surface morphology by SEM. The rate of biodegradation was monitored by the CO ₂ release method.