SÍNTESIS Y APLICACIONES DE HIDROGELES SUPERABSORBENTES DE POLI(ACRILAMIDA-Co-MONOITACONATO DE METOXIETILO)

Abstract

In this work were synthesized two series of hydrogels: poly (acrylamide-co-methoxyethyl monoitaconate) (AAm/MMOEI) and poly (acrylamide-co-itaconic acid) (AAm/AI), the latter for comparative purposes, using molar ratios of 70/30, 80/20, 90/10 and 100 /0, in order to study the effect of the composition and the percentage of crosslinking agent on swelling, and their capacity of absorption of Cu+2 ions in watery solutions. The hydrogels were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and thermal stability and degradation by TGA and TVA. In all cases, the hydrogels AAm/MMOEI absorbed more water compared with PAAm and AAm/AI hydrogels, this absorption increased with increasing proportion of MMOEI in the material. When the amount of crosslinking was increase from 1 to 3% in the hydrogels AAm/MMOEI, the rate of swelling decreased significantly. AAm/MMOEI hydrogels retain Cu+2 ions from watery solutions of copper sulfate. Finally these materials allow the cucumber seeds growing not showing phytotoxicity in the germination stage.