Thermoadaptive supramolecular α-cyclodextrin crystallization-Bbased hydrogels via double hydrophilic block copolymer templating

Li, T., Kumru, B., Al Nakeeb, N., Willersinn, J. and Schmidt, B. V.K.J. (2018) Thermoadaptive supramolecular α-cyclodextrin crystallization-Bbased hydrogels via double hydrophilic block copolymer templating. Polymers, 10(6), 576. (doi: 10.3390/polym10060576) (PMID:30966610) (PMCID:PMC6404023)

Abstract

Supramolecular hydrogels play a prominent role in contemporary research of hydrophilic polymers. Especially, hydrogels based on α-cyclodextrin/poly(ethylene glycol) (α-CD/PEG) complexation and crystal formation are studied frequently. Here, the effect of double hydrophilic block copolymers (DHBCs) on α-CD/PEG hydrogel properties is investigated. Therefore, a novel DHBC, namely poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-b-poly(oligo ethylene glycol methacrylate) (PVP-b-POEGMA), was synthesized via a combination of reversible deactivation radical polymerization and modular conjugation methods. In the next step, hydrogel formation was studied after α-CD addition. Interestingly, DHBC-based hydrogels showed a significant response to thermal history. Heating of the gels to different temperatures led to different mechanical properties after cooling to ambient temperature, i.e., gels with mechanical properties similar to the initial gels or weak flowing gels were obtained. Thus, the hydrogels showed thermoadaptive behavior, which might be an interesting property for future applications in sensing.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the Max-Planck Society for funding of the research work and open access publishing. T.L. acknowledges National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 21404019) for financial support.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Schmidt, Dr Bernhard
• Authors: Li, T., Kumru, B., Al Nakeeb, N., Willersinn, J., and Schmidt, B. V.K.J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
• Journal Name: Polymers
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2073-4360
• ISSN (Online): 2073-4360
• Published Online: 23 May 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Polymers 10(6): 576
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License