Amphiphilic polymer co-networks (APCNs) are a type of polymeric hydrogel, their hydrophobic polymer segments and hydrophilic components produce less aqueous swelling, giving better mechanical properties than conventional hydrogels. This new class of polymers is attracting increasing attention, resulting in further basic research on the system, as well as new applications.
This book focuses on new developments in the field of APCNs, and is organised in four sections: synthesis, properties, applications and modelling. Co-network architectures included in the book chapters are mainly those deriving from hydrophobic macro-cross-linkers, representing the classical approach; however, more modern designs are also presented. Properties of interest discussed include aqueous swelling, thermophysical and mechanical properties, self-assembly, electrical actuation, and protein adsorption. Applications described in the book chapters include the use of co-networks as soft contact lenses, scaffolds for drug delivery and tissue engineering, matrices for heterogeneous biocatalysis, and membranes of controllable permeability. Finally, an important theory chapter on the modelling of the self-assembly of APCNs is also included.
The book is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in hydrogels, polymer networks, polymer chemistry, block copolymers, self-assembly and nanomaterials, as well as their applications in contact lenses, drug delivery, tissue engineering, membranes and biocatalysis.
Table of Content
Thirty Years of Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks; Poly(N-vinylimidazole)-based Nanostructured Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks; Designing Multi-component
Biodegradable/Biocompatible Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks for Biomedical Applications; Cleavable Dimethacrylate-end-linked Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks Prepared Using Degradable, Hemiacetal Ester Group-containing Bifunctional Initiators; Structural Studies on PEO-b-PPO-based Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks; Structure and Physical Properties of Amphiphilic Polymer Co-network Hydrogels with Controlled Structures; Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks From Telechelic Macromonomers Using Thiol–Norbornene Chemistry; Bimodal Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks: Interfacial Phenomena and Applications; Ultra-stretchable and Multi-responsive Tough Hydrogels Crosslinked by Triblock Copolymer Micelles; Double-network Hydrogels Comprising an Ionic Amphiphilic Polymer First Co-network; Theoretical Approaches to Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks; Silicone Hydrogel Soft Contact Lenses: An Industrial Application of Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks; New Approaches Towards the Design of Tough Amphiphilic Polymeric Co-networks; Biocatalytically-active Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks; Functional Membranes Based on Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks
About the author
Professor Costas S. Patrickios earned his Ph D in 1993 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Between 1994 and 1996, Dr. Patrickios served as post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Sussex, and then (1996-1997) as Lecturer at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He joined the Department of Natural Science (now Department of Chemistry) at the University of Cyprus in 1998. His research has been focused on the preparation and characterization of amphiphilic polymer conetworks based on interconnected amphiphilic block copolymers synthesized using the living / controlled polymerization techniques group transfer polymerization (GTP), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. He is currently the Chair of the Polymer Networks Group (PNG), an international organization promoting research on polymer networks and gels.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
3,366 Ebooks in this category
