Affiliations 

  • 1 Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge Cambridge CB2 1EW United Kingdom
J Polym Sci A Polym Chem, 2017 Sep 15;55(18):3105-3109.
PMID: 28931970 DOI: 10.1002/pola.28667

Abstract

The success of exploiting cucurbit[n]uril (CB[n])-based molecular recognition in self-assembled systems has sparked a tremendous interest in polymer and materials chemistry. In this study, polymerization in the presence of host-guest complexes is applied as a modular synthetic approach toward a diverse set of CB[8]-based supramolecular hydrogels with desirable properties, such as mechanical strength, toughness, energy dissipation, self-healing, and shear-thinning. A range of vinyl monomers, including acrylamide-, acrylate-, and imidazolium-based hydrophilic monomers, could be easily incorporated as the polymer backbones, leading to a library of CB[8] hydrogel networks. This versatile strategy explores new horizons for the construction of supramolecular hydrogel networks and materials with emergent properties in wearable and self-healable electronic devices, sensors, and structural biomaterials. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017, 55, 3105-3109.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.