Polymers 2018, 10(6), 576; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10060576
Thermoadaptive Supramolecular α-Cyclodextrin Crystallization-Based Hydrogels via Double Hydrophilic Block Copolymer Templating
Tingting Li 1,2, Baris Kumru 1, Noah Al Nakeeb 1, Jochen Willersinn 1 and Bernhard V. K. J. Schmidt 1,*
1
Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14424 Potsdam, Germany
2
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 27 April 2018 / Revised: 16 May 2018 / Accepted: 21 May 2018 / Published: 23 May 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrophilic Polymers)
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. View Full-Text
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
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Li, T.; Kumru, B.; Al Nakeeb, N.; Willersinn, J.; Schmidt, B.V.K.J. Thermoadaptive Supramolecular α-Cyclodextrin Crystallization-Based Hydrogels via Double Hydrophilic Block Copolymer Templating. Polymers 2018, 10, 576.
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