Influence of pressure on the state of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) derived polymers in aqueous solution as probed by FTIR-spectroscopy

We investigated the hydration and swelling properties of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) derived microgels by Fourier transform infrared- (FTIR-) spectroscopy in a wide region of the temperature–pressure plane. These systems are known to show a swollen-to-collapsed-transition upon temperature elevation. Our data reveal that pressure favours the swollen, hydrated state over the collapsed state in all systems investigated. A detailed analysis of the fractions of the respective IR sensitive amide-I′-subbands allowed the calculation of ΔGo and ΔVo for the pressure-induced swelling process as well as evaluation of various intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonding connectivities in the different systems. In fact, considerable differences exist between different polymer or microgel types with regards to their hydrogen bonding pattern as a function of temperature and pressure, and the microgels may even exhibit a biphasic swelling behavior. Notably, the thermodynamic parameters derived reveal to be in the same order of magnitude as measured for the pressure and cold denaturation of proteins.