| Abstract: | Homogeneous poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) hydrogel exhibits a narrow range of swelling at equilibrium in water (% H2O, 41.09 ± 0.15 standard error of the mean of 24 samples), regardless of the dilution of the monomer solution and relatively low level of crosslinking. It is postulated that PHEMA hydrogel has, in addition to its covalently linked network structure, a secondary structure stabilized by hydrophobic bonding. The addition of microsolutes to the hydrogel seems to confirm this hypothesis. The hydrogel swells beyond its swelling equilibrium in water in presence of urea and its methyl derivatives. Swelling is also induced by organic solvents like alcohol and acetone, and by anions like iodide, acetate, trichloroacetate, and thiocyanate. Chlorides and sulfates produce a less swollen hydrogel than pure water, while bromides and cetylpyridinium chloride, in the concentrations tested, induce only a slight deswelling of the gel. When PHEMA gel prepared in organic solvent–water solutions is placed in water, the gel passes through an opaque state before becoming transparent again. This phenomenon is interpreted as being caused by the inability of water to solvate the hydrophilic ends of the unorganized polymer segments. Homogeneity returns to the gel after a rearrangement of the chains, directed by the interaction of the hydrophobic portions of the polymer segments, exposing to the solvent–water most of the hydrophilic sites in the network. |
