Nanocapsules embedded in natural rubber latex gloves

Abstract

To prepare medical gloves containing disinfectant agent, poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA) with M̄w of 550 K was synthesized via the iniferter technique and then used for encapsulating disinfectant agent, i.e., chlorhexidine digluconate (CHD), droplets. The CHD-PMA nanocapsules suspended in a sodium dodecyl sulfate aqueous solution having 93% encapsulation efficiency were successfully embedded between the outermost and inner layers of γ-radiation vulcanized natural rubber (RVNR) latex films by the coagulant dipping process. A RVNR/CHD-PMA nanocapsules/RVNR three-layer structure was revealed by the contact angle measurement, ATR-FTIR and SEM. Both the tensile strength and elongation at break of the three-layer film were also measured. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.