scholarly journals Tuning the Hydrophobicity of a Hydrogel Using Self-Assembled Domains of Polymer Cross-Linkers

Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee-Jin Kim ◽  
Sungwoo Cho ◽  
Seung Joo Oh ◽  
Sung Gyu Shin ◽  
Hee Wook Ryu ◽  
...  

Hydrogels incorporated with hydrophobic motifs have received considerable attention to recapitulate the cellular microenvironments, specifically for the bio-mineralization of a 3D matrix. Introduction of hydrophobic molecules into a hydrogel often results in irregular arrangement of the motifs, and further phase separation of hydrophobic domains, but limited efforts have been made to resolve this challenge in developing the hydrophobically-modified hydrogel. Therefore, this study presents an advanced integrative strategy to incorporate hydrophobic domains regularly in a hydrogel using self-assembled domains formed with polymer cross-linkers, building blocks of a hydrogel. Self-assemblies formed by polymer cross-linkers were examined as micro-domains to incorporate hydrophobic motifs in a hydrogel. The self-assembled structures in a pre-gelled solution were confirmed with the fluorescence analysis and the hydrophobicity of a hydrogel could be tuned by incorporating the hydrophobic chains in a controlled manner. Overall, the results of this study would greatly serve to tuning performance of a wide array of hydrophobically-modified hydrogels in drug delivery, cell therapies and tissue engineering.

Author(s):  
Hee-Jin Kim ◽  
Sungwoo Cho ◽  
Seung Joo Oh ◽  
Sung Gyu Shin ◽  
Hee Wook Ryu ◽  
...  

Hydrogels incorporated with hydrophobic motifs have received considerable attention to recapitulate the cellular microenvironments, specifically for the bio-mineralization of a 3D matrix. Introduction of hydrophobic motifs into a hydrogel often results in irregular arrangement of the motifs, and further phase separation of hydrophobic domains, but limited efforts have been made to resolve this challenge in the hydrophobically-modified hydrogel. Therefore, this study presents an advanced integrative strategy to incorporate hydrophobic domains regularly in a hydrogel by self-assembling of polymer cross-linkers, building blocks of a hydrogel. Self-assemblies between polymer cross-linkers were examined as micro-domains to incorporate hydrophobic motifs in a hydrogel. The self-assembled structures in a pre-gelled solution were confirmed with the fluorescence analysis and the hydrophobicity of a hydrogel could be tuned by incorporating the motifs in a controlled manner. Overall, the results of this study would greatly serve to tuning performance of a wide array of hydrophobically-modified hydrogels in drug delivery, cell therapies and tissue engineering.


Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiawei Lu ◽  
Xiangyu Bu ◽  
Xinghua Zhang ◽  
Bing Liu

The shapes of colloidal particles are crucial to the self-assembled superstructures. Understanding the relationship between the shapes of building blocks and the resulting crystal structures is an important fundamental question....


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amutha Arul ◽  
Priya Rana ◽  
Kiran Das ◽  
Ieshita Pan ◽  
Debasish Mandal ◽  
...  

Three newly synthesized building blocks, in which two FF dipeptide were connected through three different linkers, self-assemble into different super-structures with morphological individualities, considered as potential candidates for drug delivery.


1997 ◽  
Vol 488 ◽  
Author(s):  
DeQuan Li ◽  
M. Lütt ◽  
Xiaobo Shi ◽  
M. R. Fitzsimmons

AbstractThe layer-by-layer growth of film structures consisting of sequential depositions of oppositely charged polymers and macrocycles (ring-shaped molecules) have been constructed using molecular self-assembly techniques. These self-assembled thin films were characterized with X-ray reflectometry, which yielded (1) the average electron density, (2) the average thicknesses, and (3) the roughness of the growth surface of the self-assembled multilayer of macrocycles and polymers. These observations suggest that inorganic-organic interactions play an important role during the initial stages of thin-film growth, but less so as the thin film becomes thicker. Optical absorption techniques were also used to characterize the self-assembled multilayers. Phorphyrin and phthalocyanine derivatives were chosen as the building blocks of the self-assembled multilayers because of their interesting optical properties.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Hayato Foianesi-Takeshige ◽  
Satoshi Takahashi ◽  
Tomoki Tateishi ◽  
Ryosuke Sekine ◽  
Atsushi Okazawa ◽  
...  

Abstract The template effect is a key feature to control the arrangement of building blocks in assemblies, but its kinetic nature remains elusive compared to the thermodynamic aspects, with the exception of very simple reactions. Here we report a kinetic template effect in a self-assembled cage composed of flexible ditopic ligands and Pd(II) ions. Without template anion, a micrometer-sized sheet is kinetically trapped (off-pathway), which is converted into the thermodynamically most stable cage by the template anion. When the template anion is present from the start, the cage is selectively produced by the preferential cyclization of a dinuclear intermediate (on-pathway). Quantitative and numerical analyses of the self-assembly of the cage on the on-pathway revealed that the accelerating effect of the template is stronger for the early stage reactions of the self-assembly than for the final cage formation step itself, indicating the kinetic template effect.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 960-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kengo Usui ◽  
Tei Maki ◽  
Fuyu Ito ◽  
Atsushi Suenaga ◽  
Satoru Kidoaki ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (22) ◽  
pp. 3854-3858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Liu ◽  
Xiaowei Ma ◽  
Chunni Lei ◽  
Xiangdong Xue ◽  
Tuo Wei ◽  
...  

The self-assembled DNA nanostructure was able to specifically target cancer cells and release the drug at pH 5.0.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1571-1571
Author(s):  
Kengo Usui ◽  
Tei Maki ◽  
Fuyu Ito ◽  
Atsushi Suenaga ◽  
Satoru Kidoaki ◽  
...  

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1114
Author(s):  
Petra Bačová ◽  
Dimitris G. Mintis ◽  
Eirini Gkolfi ◽  
Vagelis Harmandaris

We present an atomistic molecular dynamics study of self-assembled mikto-arm stars, which resemble patchy-like particles. By increasing the number of stars in the system, we propose a systematic way of examining the mutual orientation of these fully penetrable patchy-like objects. The individual stars maintain their patchy-like morphology when creating a mesoscopic (macromolecular) self-assembled object of more than three stars. The self-assembly of mikto-arm stars does not lead to a deformation of the stars, and their shape remains spherical. We identified characteristic sub-units in the self-assembled structure, differing by the mutual orientation of the nearest neighbor stars. The current work aims to elucidate the possible arrangements of the realistic, fully penetrable patchy particles in polymer matrix and to serve as a model system for further studies of nanostructured materials or all-polymer nanocomposites using the mikto-arm stars as building blocks.


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