Novel hydrophobically modified temperature-sensitive microgels with tunable volume-phase transition temperature

Isopropyl methacrylate (iPMA) was selected to copolymerize with N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) for synthesizing temperature-sensitive microgels. The aim of this study was to extend the application range of temperature-sensitive microgels by preparing thermosensitive microgels and tuning their volume-phase transition temperature (VPTT) through changing the content of the hydrophobic comonomers. Preliminary investigations by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and turbidimetric analysis show that the VPTTs of the pNIPAM microgels can be successfully tuned via changing the incorporation content of the hydrophobic iPMA.