Hsu Wei-Hsin, Kao Yu-Chih, Chuang Shun-Hao, Wang Jun-Sheng, Lai Juin-Yih, Tsai Hsieh-Chih
Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Taiwan Republic of China
Instrument Technology Research Center, National Applied Research Laboratories Taiwan Republic of China.
RSC Adv. 2019 Aug 5;9(42):24241-24247. doi: 10.1039/c9ra03834e. eCollection 2019 Aug 2.
Zwitterionic hydrogels have promising potential as a result of their anti-fouling and biocompatible properties, but they have recently also gained further attention due to their controllable stimuli responses. We successfully synthesized two zwitterionic polymers, poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (poly-MPC) and poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide) (poly-DMAPS), which have complementary ionic sequences in their respective zwitterionic side groups and likely form an interpenetrating double network to improve their mechanical strength. The synthesized poly-MPC was blended in a poly-DMAPS matrix (MD gel) and showed high viscosity, while poly-DMAPS was blended in a poly-MPC hydrogel (DM gel) and revealed UCST behavior as the temperature increased. In addition, cross-section images of the MD hydrogel exhibited its compact and uniform structure, while the DM gel was found to exhibit a porous micro-structure with clear boundaries. The results explained the low viscosity of the DM gel, which was also confirmed 3D Raman mapping. To sum up, the preliminary data demonstrated that binary zwitterionic hydrogels have thermosensitive mechanical properties, promoting further bio-applications in the future, such as in wound healing.
两性离子水凝胶因其抗污和生物相容性特性而具有广阔的应用前景，但最近它们因其可控的刺激响应也受到了更多关注。我们成功合成了两种两性离子聚合物，聚（2-甲基丙烯酰氧乙基磷酰胆碱）（聚-MPC）和聚（2-（甲基丙烯酰氧基）乙基二甲基-（3-磺丙基）氢氧化铵）（聚-DMAPS），它们在各自的两性离子侧基中具有互补的离子序列，并可能形成互穿双网络以提高其机械强度。合成的聚-MPC与聚-DMAPS基质（MD凝胶）混合时显示出高粘度，而聚-DMAPS与聚-MPC水凝胶（DM凝胶）混合时随着温度升高呈现出最低临界溶液温度行为。此外，MD水凝胶的横截面图像显示出其致密且均匀的结构，而DM凝胶则呈现出具有清晰边界的多孔微结构。这些结果解释了DM凝胶的低粘度，3D拉曼映射也证实了这一点。总之，初步数据表明二元两性离子水凝胶具有热敏机械性能，有望在未来促进更多生物应用，如伤口愈合。
