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Intelligent Hydrogels pp 45–51Cite as

Sodium NMR Relaxation: A Versatile Non-invasive Tool for the Monitoring of Phase Transitions and the Estimation of Effective Pore Sizes of Supramolecular Hydrogels

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Part of the book series: Progress in Colloid and Polymer Science ((PROGCOLLOID,volume 140))

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry of liquids is a widely used tool to characterize porous media. In particular, 23Na NMR is an especially suitable method when applied to gels and biological tissues. In this work we investigated the thermoreversible melting and gelation processes of supramolecular hydrogels formed by succinamic acid-based amphiphiles (SAn) in a saturated aqueous NaHCO3 solution (sat. aq. NaHCO3 sol.). We could show that it is not only possible to determine the melting points and to monitor the gelation process with 23Na relaxometry, but also to estimate the effective pore size based on the expanded Brownstein-Tarr model. Our findings are in good agreement with data from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments.

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Abbreviations

aq.:

Aqueous

CPMG:

Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill

DSC:

Differential scanning calorimetry

ff:

Freeze-fracture replica

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

RT:

Room temperature

SAn:

Succinamic acid-based amphiphiles (n: number of carbon atoms in linear alkyl chain)

sat.:

Saturated

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

sol.:

Solution

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for financial support in the frame of Programme SPP 1259 “Intelligente Hydrogele”. We are indebted to Dr. M. Krekhova for the preparation of the ff-TEM images and M. Behr for fruitful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Angewandte Polymerchemie, Aachen University for Applied Science, Heinrich-Mußmann-Str. 1, 52428, Jülich, Germany

    M. Raue & T. Mang

  2. Institut für Technische und Makromolekulare Chemie, RWTH-Aachen University, Worringer Weg 1, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    M. Raue, M. Küppers & B. Blümich

  3. Macromolecular Chemistry I, Bayreuth Institute for Macromolecular Research (BIMF), Bayreuth Center for Colloids and Interfaces (BZKG), University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany

    A. Bernet & H.-W. Schmidt

  4. Department of Technical Physics II, Technical University Ilmenau, 100 565, Ilmenau, 98684, Germany

    S. Stapf

Authors
  1. M. Raue
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  2. A. Bernet
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  3. M. Küppers
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  4. S. Stapf
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  5. H.-W. Schmidt
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  6. B. Blümich
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  7. T. Mang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to M. Raue or A. Bernet .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fakultät Bio- und Chemieingenieurwesen Thermodynamik, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

    Gabriele Sadowski

  2. RWTH Aachen LS für Physikalische Chemie II, Aachen, Germany

    Walter Richtering

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Raue, M. et al. (2013). Sodium NMR Relaxation: A Versatile Non-invasive Tool for the Monitoring of Phase Transitions and the Estimation of Effective Pore Sizes of Supramolecular Hydrogels. In: Sadowski, G., Richtering, W. (eds) Intelligent Hydrogels. Progress in Colloid and Polymer Science, vol 140. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01683-2_4

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