Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(2-Hydroxyethylethylmethacrylate-Co-Acrylamide) Hydrogel for Intestinal Drug Delivery

Hydrogels, the swellable polymeric materials have been used widely as a carrier for drug delivery systems and have gained attention owing to their peculiar characteristics like swelling in aqueous medium, pH or temperature sensitivity or sensitivity towards external stimuli. Hydrogels being biocompatible due to their high water content and low interfacial tension with the biological fluids have been helpful as targetable carriers for bioactive drugs with tissue specificity. The purpose of research is to provide the targeted drug release in the intestine for a prolong period of time. pH sensitive hydrogel, 2-Hydroxyethylmethacrylate-co-acrylamide was prepared by polymerization in aqueous solution from 2-Hydroxyethlmethacrylate(2-HEMA) and acrylamide monomers using N,N-Methylenebis(acrylamide) as a cross linker. It was shown that the swelling behavior of 2-HEMA-co-acrylamide can be controlled by changing the molar concentration of acrylamide. The hydrogel was characterized by FT-IR, SEM, tests to assess swellability, drug loading and dissolution techniques.