Thermal-sensitive Starch-g-PNIPAM prepared by Cu(0) catalyzed SET-LRP at molecular level

Single electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) was employed to prepare thermal-sensitive starch graft poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (Starch-g-PNIPAM) with soluble Starch-Br as macro-initiator at molecular level. And Starch-g-PNIAPM with improved graft ratio and controlled length of graft chains were obtained. The effects of molar ratio of monomer to initiator and temperature on polymerization were investigated. The thermal responsibilities investigated by 1H NMR and UV showed that the LCST ranged from 31.5 °C to 23 °C with the increase of the length of PNIPAM chains and the concentrations of copolymers. Starch-g-PNIPAM hydrogels were gained when adding N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide as crosslinking agent and the swelling and deswelling behaviors were also investigated. The obtained hydrogels possess a high equilibrium swelling ratio as high as 1826%, and an extremely rapid shrinking rate as fast as losing more than 85% of water in 5 min.