Synthesis and Characterization of P(HEMA-co-OEGMA) Copolymer

Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) (D5030), sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃), potassium chloride (KCl), calcium chloride (CaCl₂), monosodium phosphate (NaH₂PO₄), copper(II) sulfate (CuSO₄), glucose, L-glutamine, L-lysine × HCl, L-isoleucine, L-leucine, L-tyrosine × 2Na, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA, ≥99%), oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (OEGMA₃₀₀, M_n = 300 g/mol), and PNIPAM were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Germany) and used as received. The P(HEMA-co-OEGMA) with 90% mol of HEMA as well as homopolymers of OEGMA were synthesized at the Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials of the Polish Academy of Sciences via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) as described in [49 (link)]. The polymer characterization is summarized in Table 1.
The water used to form the solutions was purified using a commercial ion exchange system (Hydrolab, Poland) and filtered twice through a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filter (0.2 μm) (Merc Millipore, Burlington, MA, USA).