STRUCTURE AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF NONIONOGENIC HYDROGELS AS CONTROLLED BY THE STRUCTURE OF BIFUNCTIONAL CROSS-LINKING AGENTS

This paper elaborates on the structure and physicochemical properties of nonionogenic hydrogels of two types [viz., those based on cross-linked copolymers of polyacrylamide and those of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)] as related to the structure of bifunctional cross-linking agents. It is shown that the interaction between the units of a cross-linking agent, which is greater the longer the constituent aliphatic fragment, alters the hydrophobic-hydrophilic balance of the system being polymerized and significantly affects the evolution of supermolecular structure of the hydrogels. The regularities discovered open possibilities for controlled variation of the structure of polymer hydrogels; these regularities must be taken into account when developing various theoretical models for the structure of three-dimensional polymer systems.