title: Involvement of fractal geometry on solute permeation through porous poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) membranes.
abstract: Fractal geometry was applied to quantify the complexity of an internal structure of porous membranes prepared with poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA). The porous pHEMA membranes were synthesized by means of free-radical solution polymerization. Boundary lines of the porous structures in the pHEMA membrane were taken by a scanning electron microscope as image data, and these images were fed into a computer to estimate the fractal dimension. The boundary images of porous pHEMA membranes were observed to be a typical fractal and their complexity was quantified as a non-integral fractal dimension. The permeation of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled dextran, molecular weight 4400 (FD-4) as a model penetrant through the porous pHEMA membrane was determined using water-jacket type two-chamber diffusion cells. A fairly good negative relationship between the permeability coefficient of FD-4 and the fractal dimension was observed, suggesting the usefulness of the fractal dimension as a novel means for evaluating solute permeation through the porous membranes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Hoshi University, 2-4-41, Ebara, Shinagawa, Tokyo 142-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumiki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yanagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Hoshi University, 2-4-41, Ebara, Shinagawa, Tokyo 142-8501, Japan. Electronic address: onuki@hoshi.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Onuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Hoshi University, 2-4-41, Ebara, Shinagawa, Tokyo 142-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Hoshi University, 2-4-41, Ebara, Shinagawa, Tokyo 142-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Kozo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takayama
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003911:Dextrans; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D017709:Fractals; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010539:Permeability; D011102:Polyhydroxyethyl Methacrylate / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D012997:Solvents
chemical_list: D003911:Dextrans; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012997:Solvents; C015219:fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran; D011102:Polyhydroxyethyl Methacrylate; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate