Adhesive hydrogels have been developed for wound healing applications. However, their adhesive performance is impaired dramatically due to their high swelling on wet tissues. To tackle this challenge, we fabricated a new type of non-swelling protein adhesive for underwater and in vivo applications. In this soft material, the electrostatic complexation between supercharged polypeptides with oppositely charged surfactants containing 3,4-dihydroxylphenylalanine or azobenzene moieties plays an important role for the formation of ultra-strong adhesive coacervates. Remarkably, the adhesion capability is superior to commercial cyanoacrylate when tested in ambient conditions. Moreover, the adhesion is stronger than other reported protein-based adhesives in underwater environment. The ex vivo and in vivo experiments demonstrate the persistent adhesive performance and outstanding behaviors for wound sealing and healing.
Keywords: bioadhesives; coacervates; supercharged polypeptides; supramolecular interactions; wound healing.
© 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.