Synthesis of janus microhydrogels with anisotropic thermo-responsiveness and organophilic/hydrophilc lodading capability

We report novel Janus microhydrogels composed of the entirely same base material but having different characteristics, such as anisotropic thermo-responsiveness and organophilic/hydrophilic loading capability. The Janus microdroplets are generated in a microchannel based on the phase separation of supersaturated aqueous Nisopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) solution, and the resulting microdroplets can be rapidly photopolymerized in situ to give Janus microhydrogels. Our approach prevents the cross-mixing between two pairs of Janus microdroplets, and thus, allows to synthesize Janus microhydrogels with distinct compartmentalized structures in a one-step manner. Copyright © (2013) by the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society All rights reserved.