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Stimuli‐Responsive Polypeptide‐Based Supramolecular Hydrogels Mediated by Ca 2+ Ion Cross‐Linking
Author(s) -
Meng Fandong,
Sun Jing,
Li Zhibo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chinese journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1614-7065
pISSN - 1001-604X
DOI - 10.1002/cjoc.201900193
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , chemistry , copolymer , ethylene glycol , supramolecular chemistry , polymer , monomer , ion , polymer chemistry , calcium , chemical engineering , molecule , organic chemistry , engineering
Summary of main observation and conclusion Hydrogels cross‐linked with metal ions ( e.g ., Ca 2+ ) represent a promising class of bioinspired materials for a wide range of biomedical applications. Herein, we report a facile approach to obtain cross‐linked stimuli‐responsive supramolecular polypeptide hydrogels. The hydrogel is prepared by statistical/block copoly( L ‐glutamate)s based copolymers cross‐linked with calcium ions. The incorporation of both oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) and glutamic acid residues in the polymer offers thermal‐responsive property and cooperative binding sites with Ca 2+ ions simultaneously. We present a systematic study of the influence of calcium ions on the gelation behaviors of these copolymers. It is observed that the addition of calcium ions induces the formation of hydrogels. Increasing the concentration of Ca 2+ ions can significantly enhance the gelation ability of the samples as indicated by increased storage modulus and decreased sol‐to‐gel transition temperature ( T sol‐gel ). We further demonstrate that the influence of monomer distribution on the gelation behavior is trivial, which is possibly due to similar morphology of the self‐assemblies. The obtained hydrogels exhibit thermal‐responsive gelation behavior mediated by ion cross‐linking, which enables them to be ideal smart hydrogel system for many applications.