Non-fouling Hydrogels of 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate and Zwitterionic Carboxybetaine (Meth)acrylamides

摘要

Five poly(betaine) brushes were prepared, and their resistance to blood plasma fouling was studied. Two carboxybetaines monomers were copolymerized with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) to prepare novel hydro-gels. By increasing the content of the zwitterionic comonomer, a 4-fold increase in the water content could be achieved while retaining mechanical properties close to the widely used poly(HEMA) hydrogels. All hydrogels showed an unprece-dentedly low fouling from blood plasma. Remarkably, by copolymerization with 10 mol % of carboxybetaine acrylamide, hydrogels fully resistant to blood plasma were prepared.