Tunable functional hydrogels formed from a versatile water-soluble chitosan

A versatile water-soluble chitosan (WSC) was applied to construct two kinds of controllable functional hydrogels. Magnetic beads were prepared by physical cross-linking WSC with sodium alginate, soaking particles with ferrous chloride and being subjected to self-oxidation. Magnetic character of the beads was tunable by simply changing the initial concentration of ferrous ions. The beads could bind compounds that contained different charges. Their adsorption capacities for coomassie brilliant blue, rhodamine and hemoglobin were 1, 0.5 and 2.3 mg/g respectively. Another kind of functional hydrogel was prepared through radical cross-linking reaction between WSC and a macromonomer (PVAM) derived from well-defined polyvinyl alcohol. The dynamic mechanical thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis results revealed that the mechanical strength and thermal stability of this hydrogel depended on the structure of PVAM. The capability to bind heavy metal ions of the hydrogel also relied on the structure of PVAM. The adsorption capacities of the hydrogels for Cu2+ and Pb2+ could reach 20.3 and 60.1 mg/g respectively.