Synthesis and Characterization of the Terpolymer of Itaconic Acid with Acrylamide and 2-Acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic Acid

The terpolymer of itaconic acid, acrylamide and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid was synthesized through the free-radical polymerization. The IR spectra confirmed that there was no olefinic band, while the TGA results revealed that the terpolymer was of high thermal stability.

Preparation of Hydrogel Based on Acryl Amide and Investigation of Different Factors Affecting Rate and Amount of Absorbed Water

Hydrogel is considered as an important material in our world nowadays as it is used in many important and significant applications such as in tissue engineering and agriculture. There are hundreds of types of such materials, where most of them can be easily prepared. The main objective of this work is to prepare one of the hydrogel types which could be very useful in the agriculture of deserts where plants in dry places require water in order to grow up. There are many places around the world where raining occurs only once or twice a year. There are also places where it does not rain at all. Therefore, hydrogels are required in order to absorb water in large quantities either during raining or irrigation instead of escaping to underground and then eject them to the roots of plants over time as the plants require watering. In this research a hydrogel based on acryl amide, Poly 2-Acrylamide-2-Methyl-1-Propane Sulphonic Acid, (PAMPS) was prepared by using different percentages of a suitable cross-linking agent, Methylene-bis-Acrylamide. The cross-linker content is very important factor affects the rate and amount of absorbed water. The highest amount of absorbed water at 25°C was observed by using 0.6% cross-linking agent based on monomer mass. The temperature of absorbed water and its pH value are also essential factors that affect the rate and the amount of absorbed water and were investigated in this work. The highest amount of absorbed water was recorded at pH = 12 and at 60°C. The amount and the rate of water absorbed by Sodium Polyacrylate Hydrogel were also investigated at 25°C. The agriculture applications of hydrogel based on Sodium Polyacrylate were examined using Fenugreek seeds implanting.

Investigation of Swelling/Sorption Characteristics of Highly Swollen AAm/AMPS Hydrogels and Semi IPNs with PEG as Biopotential Sorbent

The aim of this study was to investigate the equilibrium swelling and sorption properties of chemically crosslinked copolymeric hydrogels as biopotential sorbent consisting of acrylamide (AAm) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS). Semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi IPNs) hydrogel, composed of AAm with AMPS as co-monomer, with poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) and a multifunctional crosslinker such as trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) was prepared. AAm/AMPS hydrogels and AAm/AMPS/PEG semi IPNs were synthesized by free radical solution polymerization by using ammonium persulphate (APS)/N,N,N’,N’-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) as redox initiating pair. Swelling experiments were performed in water, 0.01 M and 0.03 M aqueous urea solutions at 25oC, gravimetrically. The hydrogels showed enormous swelling in aqueous urea/water medium and displayed swelling characteristics that were highly depended on the chemical composition of the hydrogels. FTIR spectroscopy was used to identify the presence of different repeating units in the semi IPNs. Some swelling and diffusion characteristics were calculated for different semi IPNs and hydrogels prepared under various formulations. For sorption of cationic dye, Lauths violet into the hydrogels was studied by batch sorption technique at 25oC. Dye removal capacity, adsorption percentage and partition coefficient of the hydrogels was investigated. Swelling and dye sorption properties of AAm/AMPS hydrogels and AAm/AMPS/PEG semi IPNs were investigated as a function of chemical composition of the hydrogels.