A Brief History of Polymeric Cryogels
Vladimir I. Lozinsky
Contents
1 Introductory Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Types of Initial Systems Capable of Being Precursors
for the Preparation of Cryogels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 Polymeric/Biopolymeric Cryogels Formed by
Freeze–Thaw Aging of Colloid Sols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Cryogels Prepared from Monomeric Precursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Preparation of Cryogels by Covalent Crosslinking of High Molecular Weight
Precursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Physical (Noncovalent) Polymeric Cryogels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5 Ionic (Ionotropic) Cryogels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Abstract Polymeric cryogels, the gels formed in moderately frozen gelling systems, have been empirically known for many decades, but systematic scientific
research on various cryogels and the peculiarities of cryotropic gel formation only
commenced at the beginning of the 1980s. This historical review briefly describes
the principal stages of the studies on these very interesting gel materials. It also
discusses some mechanisms of their formation, as well as summarizes published
data on the main representatives of chemically crosslinked (covalent), ionically
linked, and noncovalent (physical) cryogels.
Keywords Polymeric cryogels • Cryogel history • Moderately frozen gelling
systems • Cryotropic gelation processes
V.I. Lozinsky (*)
Laboratory for Cryochemistry of (Bio)Polymers, A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of
Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov Street 28, 119991
Moscow, Russian Federation
e-mail: loz@ineos.ac.ru
O. Okay (ed.), Polymeric Cryogels, Advances in Polymer Science 263,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-05846-7_1, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
1
Vladimir I. Lozinsky
Contents
1 Introductory Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Types of Initial Systems Capable of Being Precursors
for the Preparation of Cryogels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 Polymeric/Biopolymeric Cryogels Formed by
Freeze–Thaw Aging of Colloid Sols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Cryogels Prepared from Monomeric Precursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Preparation of Cryogels by Covalent Crosslinking of High Molecular Weight
Precursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Physical (Noncovalent) Polymeric Cryogels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5 Ionic (Ionotropic) Cryogels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Abstract Polymeric cryogels, the gels formed in moderately frozen gelling systems, have been empirically known for many decades, but systematic scientific
research on various cryogels and the peculiarities of cryotropic gel formation only
commenced at the beginning of the 1980s. This historical review briefly describes
the principal stages of the studies on these very interesting gel materials. It also
discusses some mechanisms of their formation, as well as summarizes published
data on the main representatives of chemically crosslinked (covalent), ionically
linked, and noncovalent (physical) cryogels.
Keywords Polymeric cryogels • Cryogel history • Moderately frozen gelling
systems • Cryotropic gelation processes
V.I. Lozinsky (*)
Laboratory for Cryochemistry of (Bio)Polymers, A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of
Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov Street 28, 119991
Moscow, Russian Federation
e-mail: loz@ineos.ac.ru
O. Okay (ed.), Polymeric Cryogels, Advances in Polymer Science 263,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-05846-7_1, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
1