Light-induced synthesis and characterization of “Clickable” polyacrylamide hydrogels

Hydrogels are important three-dimensional network polymers for various technologies ranging from tissue engineering to bio-sensing due to their high water absorption, biocompatibility and non-toxic characteristics. A desirable feature of hydrogels is to possess suitable functionalities for post modification that can support their extended applications. In the present work, we report a facile synthesis of clickable polyacrylamide hydrogel by photopolymerization using acrylamide and propargyl acrylate in the presence of different photoinitiators and in the absence of any additional conventional crosslinking agent under ultraviolet (UV) and visible light. The effect of irradiation time on gel fraction, swelling degree and compressive elasticity was investigated. Thiol-ene, thiol-yne and copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition click functionality of the produced hydrogels were confirmed by using respective fluorescent click components.