Temperature/pH‐Sensitive Hydrogels Prepared from Pluronic Copolymers End‐Capped with Carboxylic Acid Groups via an Oligolactide Spacer

Abstract The Pluronic F127 triblock copolymer was end‐capped by carboxyl groups using a degradable oligolactide as a spacer to confer pH‐ and thermo‐sensitive properties. With increasing chain length of the oligolactide, the temperature‐dependent sol‐gel transition curve was significantly shifted to higher concentration with concomitant narrowing of the gelation temperature range. Carboxylic acid end‐capped Pluronic also exhibited a peculiar pH‐dependent sol‐gel transition behavior. At 37 °C, sharp gel‐to‐sol and sol‐to‐gel transitions were observed around pH = 4.8 and 8.2, respectively. The pH‐dependent phase transition was caused by introduction of carboxylic acid groups at the ends of Pluronic F127. magnified image