Influence of glycidylmethacrylate functional groups attached to gelatin on the formation and properties of hydrogels

Abstract

Gelatin functionalized with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) has been shown to allow crosslinking by photopolymerization and metathesis reaction. However, side chain functionalization of gelatin might reduce triple helicalization, which influences mechanical properties of gelatin-based polymer networks. Here, the influence of glycidylmethycrylation of gelatin on the chain organization, swelling, and mechanical properties is investigated by comparing among each other physical gels prepared from GMA-gelatin solutions of different concentrations (5-20 wt.-%) by drying and rehydration. An increase of GMA-gelatin concentration from 5 wt.-% to 20 wt.-% led to an increased density of produced gelatin films and a decreasing water uptake of the films from 1160 wt.-% to 730 wt.-%, while the storage modulus was increasing about one order of magnitude from 440 Pa to 4090 Pa. The relative single and triple helix content was not influenced by the variation of polymer concentration.