Synthesis and characterization of water-compatible pressure-sensitive adhesives with high adhesion and cohesive strength for skin applications

There is a constant evolution of the technologies applied in the medical field due to the need of satisfying the requests of the patients. The transdermal drug delivery is a technology which involves the administration of drugs passing through the skin of a patience. Patch is one of the most widely used dosage forms in the transdermal drug delivery system. The matrix of the patch must provide skin adhesion and long-lasting application; this means that a product which exhibits long-lasting adhesion and water compatibility must be developed. The idea behind this research projects is to reproduce and characterize a cross-linked pyrrolidone polyacrylate pressure sensitive adhesive. The characterization of this product was performed with mechanical tests, humidity resistance and FT-IR spectroscopy. The introduction of some interesting monomers like N-vinylpyrrolidone and N-(2-Hydroxyethyl) acrylamide leads to the formation of a cross-linked pyrrolidone polyacrylate pressure sensitive adhesive. Hydrogen bonding between different molecular chains and dipole-dipole interactions are the main responsible of the formation of a cross-linked network. It was also discovered that some samples were capable to maintain adhesion and to exhibit relatively high cohesion after water absorption. Thanks to the formation of these types of bonding there’s an improvement in the time of application of the adhesive on skin and a higher compatibility with water. The biocompatibility of this adhesive with human skin was already demonstrated by literature; this means that the biological tests are repeatable and the commercialization of this product for medical applications should be considered in the future.