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Advances in Functional Polymers and Their Applications
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Advances in Functional Polymers and Their Applications

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Macromolecular Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 1422

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lei Tao

grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: multicomponent reactions; controlled radical polymerization; hydrogel; biomaterials
Dr. Chongyu Zhu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
Interests: polymerization techniques; bioconjugation; drug delivery systems; hydrogels; responsive materials; degradable polymer; medical applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers have been an important part of modern society. With the progress of society, the demand for polymers with specific functions is also increasing. The development of polymers with customized structures, multi-components, and multi-functions is expected to provide solutions to problems in emerging fields such as tissue engineering, personalized medicine, and wearable devices.

To obtain these functional polymers, several methods have been employed and are as follows: (1) synthesizing functional monomers from scratch to produce polymers with precisely controllable structures and functions; (2) post-modification of readily polymers with functional units ; (3) incorporating functional additives into polymer materials to enhance their specific properties such as anti-agenting or flame retardancy; (4) blending different polymers or preparing inorganic-organic composite materials to combine their respective advantages for high performance; and (5) utilizing the properties of polymers to prepare functional hydrogels or organogels. Each of these methods has its own advantages and suitable applications. Furthermore, by combining these functional polymers with processing techniques such as electrospinning and 3D printing, researchers can further tailor these functional materials into desired forms, thereby greatly expanding their potential applications.

This Special Issue aims to summarize the latest advancements in the development methods, processing techniques, and new applications of functional polymers in recent years. We hope this will inspire more researchers to work in this field and contribute to its development. Looking forward, we anticipate the development of functional polymers with complex structures, customizable properties, and multifunctionality, bringing groundbreaking innovations to this field.

Dr. Lei Tao
Dr. Chongyu Zhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • functional polymer
  • polymerization
  • post-polymerization modification
  • multi-component
  • hydrogel
  • 3D printing
  • biomaterials
  • polymer composite
  • surface and interface

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3669 KiB  
Article
Dual Delivery of Cells and Bioactive Molecules for Wound Healing Applications
by Petras Winkler and Yong Mao
Molecules 2025, 30(7), 1577; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30071577 - 31 Mar 2025
Viewed by 332
Abstract
Chronic wounds not only cause significant patient morbidity but also impose a substantial economic burden on the healthcare system. The primary barriers to wound healing include a deficiency of key modulatory factors needed to progress beyond the stalled inflammatory phase and an increased [...] Read more.
Chronic wounds not only cause significant patient morbidity but also impose a substantial economic burden on the healthcare system. The primary barriers to wound healing include a deficiency of key modulatory factors needed to progress beyond the stalled inflammatory phase and an increased susceptibility to infections. While antimicrobial agents have traditionally been used to treat infections, stem cells have recently emerged as a promising therapy due to their regenerative properties, including the secretion of cytokines and immunomodulators that support wound healing. This study aims to develop an advanced dual-delivery system integrating stem cells and antibiotics. Stem cells have previously been delivered by encapsulation in gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogels. To explore a more effective delivery method, GelMA was processed into microparticles (MP). Compared to a bulk GelMA hydrogel (HG) encapsulation, GelMA MP supported greater cell growth and enhanced in vitro wound healing activity of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), likely due to a larger surface area for cell attachment and improved nutrient exchange. To incorporate antimicrobial properties, the broad-spectrum antibiotics penicillin/streptomycin (PS) were loaded into a bulk GelMA hydrogel, which was then cryo-milled into MPs to serve as carriers for hMSCs. To achieve a more sustained antibiotic release, gelatin nanoparticles (NP) were used as carriers for PS. PS was either incorporated during NP synthesis (NP+PS(S)) or absorbed into NP after synthesis (NP+PS(A)). MPs containing PS, NP+PS(S), or NP+PS(A) were tested for their cell carrier functions and antibacterial activities. The incorporation of PS did not compromise the cell-carrying function of MP configurations. The anti-S. aureus activity was detected in conditioned media from MPs for up to eight days—four days longer than from bulk HG containing PS. Notably, the presence of hMSCs prolonged the antimicrobial activity of MPs, suggesting a synergistic effect between stem cells and antibiotics. PS loaded via synthesis (NP+PS(S)) exhibited a delayed initial release, whereas PS loaded via absorption (NP+PS(A)) provided a more immediate release, with potential for sustained delivery. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a dual-delivery system integrating thera Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Polymers and Their Applications)
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11 pages, 2558 KiB  
Article
Self-Assembled Protein–Polymer Nanoparticles via Photoinitiated Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly for Targeted and Enhanced Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy
by Gayathri R. Ediriweera, Yixin Chang, Wenting Yang, Andrew K. Whittaker and Changkui Fu
Molecules 2025, 30(4), 856; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30040856 - 13 Feb 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 872
Abstract
Protein–polymer bioconjugates offer numerous advantages in biomedical applications by integrating the benefits of functional proteins and tunable synthetic polymers. Developing drug-loaded protein–polymer nanoparticles, with a receptor-targeting protein forming the nanoparticle shell, would be ideal for the targeted delivery of drugs to cancer cells [...] Read more.
Protein–polymer bioconjugates offer numerous advantages in biomedical applications by integrating the benefits of functional proteins and tunable synthetic polymers. Developing drug-loaded protein–polymer nanoparticles, with a receptor-targeting protein forming the nanoparticle shell, would be ideal for the targeted delivery of drugs to cancer cells that overexpress specific receptors for more effective cancer therapy. In this study, we report the synthesis of reduction-responsive protein–polymer nanoparticles by a photoinitiated polymerization-induced self-assembly (photo-PISA) approach. Anti-cancer drugs can be efficiently encapsulated at high concentrations within the nanoparticles during the photo-PISA process. These protein–polymer nanoparticles present transferrin (Tf) on their surfaces, capable of targeting the overexpressed Tf receptors found on cancer cells. It was found that the nanoparticles demonstrate enhanced cellular uptake and delivery of the anti-cancer drug, curcumin, to cancer cells via Tf receptor-mediated endocytosis, compared to the control PEGylated nanoparticles that lack targeting capability. Moreover, the nanoparticles can release the encapsulated curcumin in response to a reducing environment, a characteristic of cancer cells compared to health cells. Consequently, the synthesized protein–polymer nanoparticles are more effective in inducing cancer cell death compared to the control nanoparticles, demonstrating their potential as an effective and targeted drug delivery system for cancer therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Polymers and Their Applications)
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