Thermocontrol of Solute Permeation across Polymer Memberane Composed of Poly(N, N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) and Its Copolymers

Polymer membranes composed of N, N-dimethylaminoethyl methaccrylate(DMAEMA) and acrylamide(AAm)(or ethyl acrylamide(EAAm) were prepared to demonstrated the thermo-control of solute permeation. Poly DMEMA has a lower critical solution temperature(LCST) at around 50$\^{C}$ in water, With the copolymerization of DMAEMA with AAm (or EAAm) a shift in the LCST to a lowere temperature was observed, probably due to the formation of hydrogen bonds between the amide and N-N-dimethylamino groups. However, the temperature-induced phase transition of poly(DMAEMA-co-EAAm) did not show a similar trend to that of poly(DMAEMA- co-AAm) in the gel state. The hydrogen bonds in poly(DMAEMA-co-EAAm) were significantly disrupted with the formation a gel network, which led to a difference in the swilling behavior of polymer gels in response to temperature. To apply these polymers to temperature-sensitive sol-ute permeation, polymer membranes were prepared. The permeation pattern of hydrocortisone, used as the model solute, was explained based on the temperature-sensitive swelling behavior of the polymer membranes.