Design, preparation and characterization of ulvan based thermosensitive hydrogels
2016
Morelli, A. | Betti, Margherita | Puppi, Dario | Chiellini, Federica
The present study is focused on the exploitation and conversion of sulphated polysaccharides obtained from waste algal biomass into high value added material for biomedical applications. ulvan, a sulphated polysaccharide extracted from green seaweeds belonging to Ulva sp. was selected as a suitable material due to its chemical versatility and widely ascertained bioactivity. To date the present work represents the first successful attempt of preparation of ulvan-based hydrogels displaying thermogelling behaviour. ulvan was provided with thermogelling properties by grafting poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) chains onto its backbone as thermosensitive component. To this aim ulvan was properly modified with acryloyl groups to act as macroinitiator in the radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide, induced by UV irradiation through a “grafting from” method. The thermogelling properties of the copolymer were investigated by thermal and rheological analyses. Sol–gel transition of the copolymer was found to occur at 30–31°C thus indicating the feasibility of ulvan for being used as in-situ hydrogel forming systems for biomedical applications.
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