Hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and thermoreversible saccharide gels and forms, and methods for producing same

A method of forming a hydrophilic gel comprising polymerizing a saccharide monomer having formula (I):

• ##STR6## where S is a saccharide residue, R is hydrogen or a lower alkyl group, and n is an integer from 1 to 8.

A method of forming a hydrophobic gel comprising polymerizing a saccharide monomer having formula (II):

• ##STR7## where S is a saccharide residue, R is hydrogen or a lower alkyl group, R' is an alkyl, aryl, or alkaryl group, n is an integer from 1 to 8, and m is an integer from 0 to 7.

A method of forming a thermoreversible gel comprising polymerizing a saccharide monomer having formula (III):

• ##STR8## where S is a saccharide residue, R is hydrogen or a lower alkyl group, R" is an alkylene, arylene, or alkarylene diradical, and n is an integer from 1 to 8.

A method of forming a hydrophobic gel comprising polymerizing a saccharide monomer having formula (IV):

• ##STR9## where S is a saccharide residue, R.sub.1 is hydrogen or a lower alkyl group, and n is an integer from 1 to 8.

A method of forming a hydrophobic gel comprising polymerizing a saccharide monomer having formula (V):

• ##STR10## where S is a saccharide residue, R.sub.2 is hydrogen or a lower alkyl group, and n is an integer from 1 to 8.

A method of forming a hydrophilic gel comprising polymerizing a saccharide monomer having formula (VI):

• ##STR11## where S is a saccharide residue, R is hydrogen or lower alkyl, R.sub.3 is hydrogen or lower alkyl, n is an integer from 1 to 8, and x is an integer from 1 to 10,000.

A method of forming a hydrophilic gel comprising polymerizing a saccharide monomer having formula (VII):

• ##STR12## where S is a saccharide residue, R is hydrogen or lower alkyl, R.sub.4 is an alkylene, arylene, or alkarylene diradical, R.sub.5 is hydrogen or lower alkyl, and n is an integer from 1 to 8.