Synthesis and Characterization of Acrylic Based Copolymeric Hydrogel Nanoparticles: An Approach to Drug Delivery

Abstract: Poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) copolymeric hydrogel nanoparticles(HN) were prepared by precipitation polymerization technique using potassium per sulphate(PS) as reaction initiator and N, N- methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as crosslinking agent.The prepared HN were characterized by FTIR and copolymerization was confirmed. From the swelling studies of the HN, it was found that the prepared copolymer showed comparatively higher swelling in rat caecal medium which is having higher pH. Among the formulations, formulation A1 showed comparatively higher swelling in all the biological media. Degradation studies of HN in simulated physiological isotonic solution indicated slow rate of degradation for extended period of time which is useful for controlled delivery of drug. HN produced were of submicron size and of low polydispersity, which indicated a relatively narrow particle size distribution that is suitable for targeting the entrapped drug to specific site. Key Words: Poly acrylamide; Poly acrylic acid; Hydrogel; Bio degradability; Swelling properties Now-a-days hydrogels have become popular carriers for drug delivery applications due to their biocompatibility and resemblance to biological tissues 1–6. From a structural point of view, hydrogels are three-dimensiona