The use of radiation technique in the synthesis of polymeric nanogels

Irradiation of dilute, deoxygenated aqueous solutions of hydrophilic polymers with high-dose pulses of fast electrons leads to the simultaneous formation of many radicals on each polymer chain. These radicals undergo mainly intramolecular recombination. In this way internally crosslinked macromolecules - nanogels - are formed. Current data on poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) show that during this process the weight-average molecular weight remains almost constant, but there is a pronounced decrease in the radius of gyration of macromolecules, an effect expected for the formation of compact, internally crosslinked structures