Efficiency of Hydrogen Doners in Photo-induced Copolymerisation of NVP and A Water soluble N-alkyl Maleimide

The current work concerns using the Photo-DSC technique to study the rates of photoinitiator free copolymerisation of donor/acceptor pair involving N-vinylpyrrolidinone (NVP), an electron-rich donor and a water-soluble N-substituted maleimide (MI) in the presence of hydrogen donors, in order to evaluate their efficiencies as hydrogen donors. The present systems studied would constitute a significant contribution to the growing interest in the field of hydrogel preparation. Crosslinked poly(NVP) is a biocompatible hydrogel which has been extensively used in the biomedical field. Gamma radiation has been the radiation source commonly used for the synthesis of hydrogels, as being an ionising radiation it does not require initiators to initiate polymerisation. These initiators besides being costly may remain as impurities embedded in the finished product if they are not completely used in the polymerisation process. However, the UV radiation method has a distinct advantage over gamma radiation method as it is a much more affordable process, as relatively low capital cost is involved. Hence, hydrogels prepared using the donor/acceptor pair systems would have the advantages of being more economical to produce and (P1) free as well. The current study includes the synthesis of a P1 free polymer which functions effectively as a hydrogel, via NVP/hydroxypentyl maleimide donor/acceptor system in the presence of an UV radiation source.