PRELIMINARY STUDY ON A BIOTOLERABLE TERNARY SYSTEM, ACTING AS REDOX INITIATOR
STELIAN S. MAIER*, VASILICA MAIER, MELINDA PRUNEANU âGH. ASACHIâ TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF IAĆI, DEPARTMENT OF LEATHER CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY, P.O. IAĆI 10, POBOX 2070, 700050 IAĆI, ROMANIA *CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: SMAIER@CH.TUIAĆI.RO
This paper studies radical initiation of the crosslinking process within a model mixture of 19: 1 acrylamide: N,Nâ-methylene-bis-acrylamide, carried out at low temperature (below 6 °C), using a ternary initiator mixture containing hydrogen peroxyde (H2O2) as oxidizing agent, ascorbic acid (AA) as activating agent and uric acid (UA) as promoter and modulator of the radical centers development. The initiator system contains only biotolerable components and can be used for the obtaining of crosslinked protein molecular composites hydrogels, containing in-situ generated oligomers, able to be used in tissue engineering. The study establishes (i) the optimal composition of the initiator mixture (H2O2: AA: UA molar ratio of 1: 1: 0.1), (ii) the monomer: initiator mixture molar ratio (1: 0.021) and (iii) the lowest feasible concentration of H2O2 that simultaneously determines maximal hydrogel consistency and minimal volume of water extracted by syneresis. The hydrogel consistency was modeled using a mixture experimental design.