Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) of copolymer thin films

Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) represents a novel hot-wire CVD variant for producing copolymer thin films. iCVD copolymerization was characterized by a conventional liquid-phase free radical copolymerization equation when applied to methacrylic acid copolymers. FTIR peak shifts with changing comonomer ratios in the copolymers further supported a copolymerization mechanism. Crosslinked methacrylic acid copolymers provided pH-dependent swelling behavior that enabled an enteric release of active core material when the copolymer was used as an encapsulation coating.