A Nonhydrolyzable-Water Soluble Crosslinker: Tetrallylpiperazinium Dichloride and its Copolymers with Acrylic Acid and Acrylamide

Abstract

A versatile crosslinking agent, tetraallyl piperazinium dichloride (TAP) has been prepared and demonstrated to be useful in copolymerization with water soluble monomers such as acrylic acid and acrylamide. Although the crosslinker itself does not readily homopolymerize in water, it forms transparent rigid hydrogels within a reasonable period of time when copolymerized with acrylic acid. Being nonhydrolysable, the crosslinker presented is superior to other common water soluble crosslinking agents such as methylene or ethylene bis(acrylamides). Since this crosslinker has a low toxicity, it may be used for bioapplications such as gel electrophoresis etc.