Versatile and Tunable Poly(Ethylene Glycol)-Based Hydrogels Crosslinked through the Ugi Reaction

Inês Padrão; Cláudia S M Fernandes; Carina Esteves; Tiago Fernandes; Ana S Pina; Ana Cecília A Roque

doi:10.1002/cplu.202000743

Versatile and Tunable Poly(Ethylene Glycol)-Based Hydrogels Crosslinked through the Ugi Reaction

Chempluschem. 2020 Dec;85(12):2737-2741. doi: 10.1002/cplu.202000743.

Authors

Inês Padrão¹, Cláudia S M Fernandes¹, Carina Esteves¹, Tiago Fernandes², Ana S Pina¹, Ana Cecília A Roque¹

Affiliations

¹ UCIBIO, Chemistry Department, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, Campus Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal.
² Department of Bioengineering, IBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal.

PMID: 33369274
DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202000743

Abstract

The four-component Ugi condensation reaction has been investigated to assemble chemically crosslinked hydrogels using multivalent star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol) components. The resulting biocompatible hydrogels are highly versatile in composition and function. It is shown that acid, aldehyde, and cyanide components can be varied yielding materials with precise structure and tunable stiffness. Additionally, the resulting hydrogels were proven extremely robust to consecutive drying-swelling cycles. This property was explored to develop a reversible humidity colorimetric sensor gel. Overall, this work demonstrates the application of the four-component Ugi reaction as a powerful tool to quickly generate crosslinked gels with precise control in chemical composition.

Keywords: Ugi reaction; crosslinking; gels; poly(ethylene glycol); sensors.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't