. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Apr 1.

Published in final edited form as: J Biomed Mater Res A. 2010 Apr;93(1):175–188. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.32510

Table 2.

Variables used for determination of molecular weight between crosslinks and mesh size of PIA-g-PEG hydrogels

Variable	Description	Value
V1	Molar volume of swelling agent	18.1 ml/mol
ρ_hex	Density of hexane	666.7 mg/ml
χ_1,IA	Polymer-solvent interaction parameter for poly(itaconic acid)	Not available
χ_1,PEG	Polymer-solvent interaction parameter for poly(ethylene glycol)²⁷	0.55
C_n,IA	Flory characteristic ratio of poly(itaconic acid)²²	4.63
C_n,PEG	Flory characteristic ratio of poly(ethylene glycol)²⁸	3.8
ℓ	Carbon-carbon bond length along polymer chain	1.54 Å
M_o	Molecular weight of IA repeating units	130 g/mol
M_n	Number average molecular weight of the hydrogel in the absence of crosslinker (Determined experimentally)	11,505 g/mol
M_r	Molecular weight of the repeating unit of the polymer	130 g/mol
X	Nominal degree of crosslinking	0.100 or 0.125