Photodegradable polymers for biotechnological applications.

Photodegradable polymers constitute an emerging class of materials that finds numerous applications in biotechnology, biomedicine, and nanoscience. This article highlights some of the emerging applications of photodegradable polymers in the form of homopolymers, particles and self-assembled constructs in solution, hydrogels for tissue engineering, and photolabile polymers for biopatterning applications. Novel photochemistries have been combined with controlled polymerization methods, which result in well-defined photodegradable materials that exhibit light mediated and often controlled fragmentation processes.