Lecture
Abstract: Hydrogels are suitable for many different applications, because of their broad range of properties such as hydrophilicity, large water uptake, adjustable mechanical strength and biocompatibility. Current challenges are the development and complete structural elucidation of a new type of hydrogel. In this research we focus on hydrogels based on sulfobetainic monomers and a highly water soluble cross-linker. For the synthesis two different types of radical polymerization strategies were used. This includes the free radical polymerization in water for the development of macroscopic hydrogels and a photopolymerization for the modification of surfaces such as Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) grids. The focus is on the investigation of the structure and the behavior of the resulting hydrogel. Solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, small angle x-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering, thermogravimetric analysis and mechanical studies were carried out. This contribution will give an overview about the recent developments in this research and will focus on possible applications in the biomedical field.
