Sterilizable Gels from Thermoresponsive Block Copolymer Worms

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• 作者：Adam Blanazs ; Robert Verber ; Oleksandr O. Mykhaylyk ; Anthony J. Ryan ; Jason Z. Heath ; C. W. Ian Douglas ; Steven P. Armes
• 刊名：The Journal of the American Chemical Society
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：June 13, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：134
• 期：23
• 页码：9741-9748
• 全文大小：445K
• 年卷期：v.134,no.23(June 13, 2012)
• ISSN：1520-5126

文摘

Biocompatible hydrogels have many applications, ranging from contact lenses to tissue engineering scaffolds. In most cases, rigorous sterilization is essential. Herein we show that a biocompatible diblock copolymer forms wormlike micelles via polymerization-induced self-assembly in aqueous solution. At a copolymer concentration of 10.0 w/w聽%, interworm entanglements lead to the formation of a free-standing physical hydrogel at 21 掳C. Gel dissolution occurs on cooling to 4 掳C due to an unusual worm-to-sphere order鈥搊rder transition, as confirmed by rheology, electron microscopy, variable temperature ¹H NMR spectroscopy, and scattering studies. Moreover, this thermo-reversible behavior allows the facile preparation of sterile gels, since ultrafiltration of the diblock copolymer nanoparticles in their low-viscosity spherical form at 4 掳C efficiently removes micrometer-sized bacteria; regelation occurs at 21 掳C as the copolymer chains regain their wormlike morphology. Biocompatibility tests indicate good cell viabilities for these worm gels, which suggest potential biomedical applications.