European Polymer Journal, cilt.43, sa.2, ss.514-521, 2007 (SCI-Expanded)
Hydrophobically modified poly[2-(diethylamino)ethylmethacrylate-co-N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone/octadecyl acrylate] [P(DEAEMA-NVP/OA)] hydrogels with different OA content were prepared by free-radical crosslinking copolymerization of corresponding monomers in tert-butanol. The swelling equilibrium of the hydrogels was investigated as a function of temperature and hydrophobic comonomer content in pure water. An interesting feature of the swelling behavior of the P(DEAEMA-NVP/OA) hydrogels was the reentrant phase transition where the hydrogels collapse once and reswell as temperature increased. The average molecular mass between crosslinks (over(M, -)c) and polymer-solvent interaction parameter (χ) of the hydrogels were calculated from equilibrium swelling values. The enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy (ΔS) changes appearing in the χ parameter for the hydrogels were determined by using the Flory-Rehner theory. It was observed that the experimental swelling data of the hydrophobic hydrogels at different temperature agreed with the Flory-Rehner theory, that provided that the sensitive dependence of χ parameter on both temperature and polymer concentration is taken into account. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.