Preparation and polymerization of a water‐soluble, nonbonding crosslinking agent for a mechanically crosslinked hydrogel

Abstract
A novel water‐soluble cyclic macromonomer based on a cyclic potassium polyacrylate was prepared. The radical polymerization of acrylamide in the presence of the cyclic macromonomer was carried out to obtain a mechanically crosslinked polyacrylamide. The terpolymerization of acrylamide, sodium acrylate, and the cyclic macromonomer gave a mechanically crosslinked polyelectrolyte with high swellability. The mechanically crosslinked polyelectrolyte exhibited large volume shrinkage in a water solution of Cu(II) salt. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 5032–5040, 2005