Abstract
Abstract Summary: The swelling behavior of an amphoteric gel composed of 50 mol‐% of maleic acid (MA), 25 mol‐% of N,N′‐dimethyldiallylammonium chloride (DMDAAC) and 25 mol‐% of diallylamine (DAA) was studied in aqueous and aqueous‐salt solutions. The isoelectric point (IEP) of the MA‐DMDAAC‐DAA gel determined from swelling experiments was about pH 4.6. Considerable gel swelling with increasing ionic strength was observed at the IEP. Dynamic swelling properties of the amphoteric gel in water with and without added salt were measured at various pH values including the IEP. The swelling behavior of the amphoteric gel was found to depend on the ionization state of the functional groups. It can be described by either a relaxation‐controlled or non‐Fickian (anomalous) mechanism. Swelling‐deswelling properties of the amphoteric gel were also studied in mixtures of water and organic solvents. The amphoteric gel was able to complex sodium poly(styrene sulfonate), sodium lauryl sulfate, the cationic drug richlocain, and the bivalent transition metal ions Cu2+, Ni2+, Co2+, and Zn2+. The sorption of polyelectrolyte, surfactant, drug, and metal ions by the amphoteric gel is accompanied by the contraction of the gel network. Partial release of the cationic drug molecules entrapped into the gel volume takes place at the IEP of the amphoteric gel with low activation energy, while neither the anionic polyelectrolyte nor the surfactants are released from the gel interior at the IEP. The swelling‐shrinking behavior of gel‐polyelectrolyte and gel‐surfactant complexes in dependence of pH and ionic strength of the outer solution is similar. magnified image