Multi‐Responsive Hydrogel Based on Sodium Alginate With Acrylic Acid and Methacrylic Acid: Impact on Normal and Cancerous Cells

ABSTRACT The application of sodium alginate (SA) in the field of hydrogels has attracted much attention. However, it remains challenging to fabricate sodium alginate‐based biocompatible hydrogels with improved strength, high elasticity, porosity, and extraordinary adhesiveness. Herein, a hydrogel is constructed by SA and a copolymer of acrylic acid (AA) and meth acrylic acid (MAA), was synthesized via a free‐radical polymerization (FRP) and reinforced by using dynamic cross‐linker (Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ ) with their carboxylate groups (COO − ) like a chelating complex. The XPS validates the presence of dynamic Fe 2+ (711 eV)/Fe 3+ (714 eV) ions in the hydrogel scaffold. Porous structure contributes to improving the swelling rate (400%) which assists in drug delivery (80%) applications. The hydrogel has a well‐interconnected network with a crossover point (G′ = G″) at 120 Pa with 8.52% strain and various factors viz. frequency temperature and time sweep study affect the gelation. The hydrogel exhibits a substantial surface area (25m 2 /g), pore depth size up to 350 nm, and height distribution histogram average size of 394 nm. The poly(AA‐co‐MAA) copolymer found actively targeting breast cancer MDA‐MB‐231 cells and exhibited biocompatibility against HEK‐293 cells and useful in water soluble controlled drug delivery.