Bridging rigidity and flexibility : modulation of supramolecular hydrogels by metal complexation

The combination of complementary, noncovalent interactions is a key principle for the design of multistimuli responsive hydrogels. In this work, an amphiphilic peptide, supramacromolecular hydrogelator which combines metal-ligand coordination induced gelation and thermoresponsive toughening is reported. Following a modular approach, the incorporation of the triphenylalanine sequence FFF into a structural (C3EG ) and a terpyridine-functionalized (C3Tpy ) C3 -symmetric monomer enables their statistical copolymerization into self-assembled, 1D nanorods in water, as investigated by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the presence of a terpyridine …

Sticker Multivalency in Metallo-supramolecular Polymer Networks

Cell adhesion on UV-crosslinked polyurethane gels with adjustable mechanical strength and thermoresponsiveness

Temperature-responsive polyurethane (PU) hydrogels represent a versatile material platform for modern tissue engineering and biomedical applications. However, besides intrinsic advantages such as high mechanical strength and a hydrolysable backbone composition, plain PU materials are generally lacking bio-adhesive properties. To overcome this shortcoming, the authors focus on the synthesis of thermoresponsive PU hydrogels with variable mechanical and cell adhesive properties obtained from linear precursor PUs based on poly(ethylene glycol)s (pEG) with different molar masses, isophorone diisocyanate, and a dimerizable dimethylmaleimide (DMMI)-diol. The cloud point temperatures of the dilute,…

Amphiphilic poly(ether urethanes) carrying associative terpyridine side groups with controlled spacing

The rational design of transiently crosslinked polymer gels requires a profound understanding of how molecular and topological factors determine the mechanical and dynamic material properties. To refine so-far established structure–property relations, complementary and versatile model sytems are still a crucial prerequisiste. In this study, the synthesis of a metallo-supramolecular associating terpyridine-diol (referred to as sticker) and its incorporation into poly(ethylene glycol) (pEG) based polyurethanes (PU) with strictly alternating vs. random sequences and variable sticker spacings is described. Synergetic effects resulting from the proximity of multiple neighboring urethane and stic…