Photocrosslinking of Polyacrylamides Using [2 + 2] Photodimerisation of Monothiomaleimides

[Image: see text] The [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of monothiomaleimides (MTMs) has been exploited for the photocrosslinking of polyacrylamides. Polymer scaffolds composed of dimethylacrylamide and varying amounts of d,l-homocysteine thiolactone acrylamide (5, 10, and 20 mol %) were synthesized via free-radical polymerization, whereby the latent thiol functionality was exploited to incorporate MTM motifs. Subsequent exposure to UV light (λ = 365 nm, 15 mW cm(–2)) triggered intermolecular crosslinking via the photodimerization of MTM side chains, thus resulting in the formation of polyacrylamide gels. The polymer scaffolds were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, (1)H NMR spectroscopy, and size exclusion chromatography, confirming the occurrence of the [2 + 2] photocycloaddition between the MTM moieties. The mechanical and physical properties of the resulting gels containing various MTM mol % were evaluated by rheology, compression testing, and swelling experiments. In addition, scanning electron microscopy was used to characterize the xerogel morphology of 5 and 10 mol % MTM hydro- and organo-gels. The macro-porous morphology obtained for the hydrogels was attributed to phase separation due to the difference in solubility of the PDMA modified with thiolactone side chains, provided that a more homogeneous morphology was obtained when the photo-gels were prepared in DMF as the solvent.