Hydroxybutyl starch-based thermosensitive hydrogel for protein separation

Abstract The starch-based thermosensitive hydrogel (STH) is a new type of polymer material with great water-absorbing ability. In this study, a series of STHs was synthesized based on hydroxybutyl starch (HS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). Furthermore, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a model protein for separation from produced hydrogels. This STH exhibited a reversible swelling and deswelling as the temperature changed. It was found that the addition of HS and PEG resulted in more microporous structures and increasing equilibrium swelling ratio (ESR). The improved performance, simple method and low-cost material conferred STH to serve as a considerable biomaterial for protein separation.