Research efforts have been devoted to demonstrate that the temperature sensitivity characters of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)(PNIPAAm) can be applied in the field of drug carriers. A copolymer hydrogel of N-isopropylacrylamide/hydroxypropyl methacrylate (NIPAAm/HPMA) was synthesized by gamma irradiation. The nature of bonding was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, whereas the thermal stability was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The influence of NIPAAm/HPMA composition on the swelling properties in water, at different temperatures and different pH values was studied. The release characters of caffeine drug from NIPAAm/HPMA hydrogels were also investigated. The gel fraction of NIPAAm/HPMA was found to increase slightly by increasing the ratio of HPMA in the initial solution. The IR spectra indicate the formation of copolymer hydrogels, whereas the TGA study showed that the NIPAAm/HPMA copolymer hydrogels displayed higher thermal stability than NIPAAm hydrogel. PNIPAAm hydrogel showed higher swelling in water than NIPAAm/HPMA hydrogels. Based on Fick's law, it was demonstrated that the diffusion of water into NIPAAm/HPMA is controlled. It was found that the main parameters affecting the drug release behavior from the hydrogels are composition and pH. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 119: 577-585, 2011