Potential application of thermo-sensitive hydrogels for controlled release of phenacetin

Over the past years, many scientific research studies have been focused on thermo-sensi-tive hydrogels containing N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) as a monomer. The NIPAM based hydrogels with 20 mol % 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMet) were synthesized using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linker. The characterization of xerogel and phe-nacetin using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Scanning electron mic-roscopy (SEM)confirm the performed synthesis with satisfactory purity as well as loading of phenacetin into hydrogel. The swelling transport mechanism at simulated physiological conditions (pH 2.20 and 7.40 at 37 °C) is described by the time-independent kinetics. The potential application of synthesized hydrogels for the controlled release of phenacetin as a model drug was investigated at simulated physiological conditions by HPLC method