Synthesis of fast-swelling, superporous sucrose hydrogels

Sucrose was reacted with glycidyl acrylate to introduce double bonds. The extent of modification was quantitated using 13C NMR. The reaction time and the molar ratio were varied to adjust the degree of substitution. The average number of double bonds introduced in sucrose varied from 0.2 to 6.7. Since the reaction mixture contained sucrose modified with more than one double bond, its polymerization resulted in a crosslinked network of sucrose hydrogels (sucrogels). Superporous sucrogels were also prepared by adding a gas forming agent during polymerization. They swelled faster with higher swelling ratio and degraded faster in both acidic and basic conditions than sucrogels. The fast swelling superporous sucrogels can be used in various applications, including controlled drug delivery.