ABSTRACT
4Smart polymers, also called stimuli-responsive or environment-sensitive polymers, are intelligent polymers that respond in a dramatic way to slight changes in the environment such as pH, temperature, dual stimuli, light, and phase transition. These systems are able to recover their initial state when the sign or stimuli end. They undergo fast and reversible changes in the microstructure from a hydrophilic to a hydrophobic state that are triggered by small stimuli in the environment. Due to their unique characteristics, such as versatility and tunable sensitivity, they found a variety of applications in biomedical and nanotechnology fields. The exploitation of smart polymeric systems for delivering bioactive agents, including peptide and protein drugs was one of the major breakthrough discoveries. Interest in stimuli- responsive polymers is steadily gaining attention especially in the fields of controlled and self-regulated drug delivery. Smart polymers are representing promising means for targeted drug delivery, tissue engineering, cell culture, textile engineering, radioactive wastage, gene carriers, glucose sensors, and protein purification. The present chapter aims to highlight various kinds of smart polymers and their applications.
